3 Players Who Can Replace Virat Kohli In India's Test Squad vs England

ind vs eng: 3 players who can replace virat kohli in india’s test squad vs england

The Indian cricket team will be without star batter Virat Kohli for the first two Test matches of the upcoming five-match series against England for personal reasons. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the star batter spoke to skipper Rohit Sharma, the team management, and the selectors and called for fans to respect the former Indian captain’s privacy and refrain from speculation.

However, the BCCI has yet to announce a replacement but did reveal that the selectors will soon announce it. While the Indian team has been deprived of experience in Kohli’s absence and the option to recall Ajinkya Rahane or Cheteshwar Pujara remains, it is not one that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is likely to go for.

Three uncapped players are the front-runners to take Kohli’s place in the Indian Test squad for the first two Test matches against England.

3 Possible Virat Kohli replacements vs England

Rajat Patidar: Rajat Patidar has emerged as a strong front-runner to earn a call-up to the Indian test team after his sprung of impressive performances in the first-class circuit in recent years. After making his ODI debut last month in South Africa, a Test call-up should not be far away for the Royal Challengers Bangalore star.

Patidar has made a strong case for himself in the ongoing India-A vs. England Lions series. After making a century in the two-day warm-up game, Patidar played an incredible knock of 151 in the first unofficial Test in Ahmedabad last week at a time when the other batters in the top five were dismissed for single-digit scores, while apart from his knock, no Indian batter got a score more than 23 runs. The 30-year-old has an impressive average of 45.97 in first-class cricket.

Sarfaraz Khan: Virat Kohli’s unfortunate absence could finally open the door for Sarfaraz Khan’s maiden call-up to the national team. The Mumbai batter has lit up the scene in domestic cricket in recent years with a Don Bradman-esque record in first-class cricket. The 26-year-old has a stunning average of 68.20 in first-class cricket.

Since the start of 2022, the average has remained close to 88. He has also impressed in the India-A vs. England Lions series with a knock of 96 in the warm-up game, followed by a second-inning half-century in the first unofficial Test.

Rinku Singh:Rinku Singh has been nothing short of a revelation at the international level in T20Is, but one must not forget that while he has burst into the limelight for his white-ball heroics, he has been a consistent performer in red-ball cricket for Uttar Pradesh and has a stunning average of 58.47 in first-class cricket after playing 43 games.

Rinku was not officially named in the Indian Test team vs. South Africa but did stay with the squad and even came out as a substitute fielder, showing he is in the thinking of the team management. Rinku has been named in the India-A squad to face the England Lions in the second and third unofficial tests. The left-handed batter was also part of the India-A squad for the series in South Africa last month.