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Rajat Patidar is in line to make his Test debut against England at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Friday. Patidar, who was brought into the squad after Virat Kohli pulled out from the first two Tests, was seen practising both the conventional and reverse sweeps during India’s nets session on Thursday. The talented right-hander, who made his ODI debut in South Africa last year, was always slightly ahead of Sarfaraz Khan, the other contender in the race to grab a spot in India’s middle-order for the second Test. Although both the uncapped cricketers sweat it out during the optional training session, it was Patidar who seemed to be going through an intense drill to combat the England spinners.
News agency PTI reported that the Madhya Pradesh right-hander and Shubman Gill spent a lot of time practising the sweep shot. Gill has been short of runs and his defensive ploy in the first Test came under the scanner.
The sweep and reverse sweep were the most prominent scoring shots of Ollie Pope during his 196-run match-changing knock in the first Test.
Patidar, a naturally attacking middle-order batter is no stranger to the concentration sweep but the reverse sweep is something that he is trying to add to his armoury to tackle the likes of Jack Leach, Tom Hartley, Joe Root, and Rehan Ahmed.
Patidar scored two centuries against England Lions in his last three innings for India A. His 150 in the four-day match against Ahmedabad was crucial in helping him jump the queue.
All the batters were not sweeping every ball but it was a lot more than what they practised in the Hyderabad nets.
Sarfaraz also had a hit in the nets. Both he and Patidar also got catching practice in the slips.
The sweep doesn’t come naturally to the home team batters and coach Vikram Rathour said that they should play to their strengths.
“It is not something you can try. You need to practice it. If you have more shots it is beneficial. We play in a traditional way. Our strength is going straight and using our feet. We need to do that well and and if we can play some shots, that is always a good addition,” he said.
Joe Root bats left-handed
England’s batting mainstay Joe Root set up as a left-hander before turning for the reverse sweep in the team’s session in the morning.
Jack Leach, who is nursing an injury on his left keen, did not train on Wednesday and looks a doubtful starter, bringing uncapped Shoaib Bashir into the equation.
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