Such are the dynamics of Indian cricket that even deserving players get snubbed. Rajat Patidar, the man who led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to two consecutive Indian Premier League (IPL) titles, continues to be overlooked as far as India’s T20I selection is concerned. As the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee picked the squad for the upcoming series in Ireland and England, as well as the forthcoming Asian Games, Patidar’s name was nowhere to be seen.
Patidar’s name remained absent from the squad list despite him playing a pivotal role in RCB’s back-to-back IPL titles in 2025 and 2026. The middle-order batter was overlooked even as the selection committee made a plethora of changes to the squad, bringing in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi whilst replacing Suryakumar Yadav as captain with Shreyas Iyer.
When Ajit Agarkar, the chief of the BCCI selection committee, was asked about the decision to snub Patidar, he admitted that not all deserving players can be selected as only 15 members can be named in the squad.
“We discussed a host of players. We think these 15 are deserving. There are a lot of good players in India. There are plenty who are good enough to walk into the team, but the guys playing are doing as well as they can. We think we’ve picked a good squad. There will always be players missing out, but we’ve picked a good squad, and we are happy with this one,” Agarkar said, speaking at a press conference on Saturday.
In the IPL 2026 campaign, Patidar scored 501 runs at a strike rate of 192.69, showing an incredible ability to change the pace of his game according to the situation. His tally included 30 fours and 42 sixes as he emerged as one of the most fearsome batters in the middle overs.
When it came to the phase between overs 12 and 16, Patidar scored a whopping 234 runs from 108 balls at a strike rate of 216.67. In the final four overs, he accelerated his scoring rate even further, striking at 278.57.
Instead of Patidar, the selection committee decided to persist with the likes of Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube for the number four and five spots.
