The Indian cricket team has gone through major changes in T20 cricket in the last 5 years and the result has been seen in the form of two consecutive T20 World Cup trophies. Suryakumar Yadav has played a big role in this change, who has been the best batsman in the world in this format for about 3-4 years. This time, under his captaincy, Team India also won the title. But is Surya’s time in Team India about to end? Has the time come to give a chance to another batsman in his place? Could that batsman be Rajat Patidar?
All these questions have suddenly started arising and there are strong reasons behind it. Suryakumar Yadav Made his T20 debut for Team India exactly 5 years ago in March 2021. Even before that, he had created a stir in the IPL on behalf of Mumbai Indians. Then after coming to Team India, his bat has spoken strongly for 4 consecutive years. During this period, he also remained the number-1 batsman in T20 rankings for a long time. Coming at number three and four, he also scored many centuries and always batted at a high strike rate.
Suryakumar’s place in danger?
But for the last one and a half years, Suryakumar Yadav’s performance has continuously declined. From October 2024 to January 2026, he could not score a single half-century. Recently, before the T20 World Cup, he had shown signs of returning to form and also led to victory by scoring a strong half-century in the first match of the World Cup. However, after this his performance again declined badly.
In the World Cup, he scored 242 runs in 9 innings. The surprise is about his strike rate, which was only 136. Since January 2025, he has so far scored 702 runs in 33 T20 International innings at an average of 26 and strike rate of 147. In such a situation, due to Surya’s form and his increasing age (about 36 years), there is doubt whether he will fit into the team’s plans in 2028 also.
Patidar is the perfect replacement
But a big question is who will replace Surya? Team India has many options but most of them are openers or top 3 contenders. This is where the claim of Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Rajat Patidar, who usually plays at number four for his team, becomes stronger. At present, there are only a few names in Indian cricket including IPL, who bat brilliantly at number four.
Although Shreyas Iyer is a good choice for this role, but his game against fast bowlers still looks questionable. In such a situation, Patidar’s claim is strong because he has the ability to attack spinners and fast bowlers equally in the middle overs and he has been showing this in the last 2-3 IPL seasons. He has played a total of 45 T20 matches in IPL 2026 from January 2024 till now and during this he has scored 1327 runs with a strike rate of 169. During this period he has hit 91 fours and 87 sixes.
Strong start in IPL 2026 too
After making RCB the champion for the first time, Patidar has started the IPL 2026 season with a bang. In the first match, he scored 31 runs in just 12 balls, while in the second match, he played an unbeaten inning of 48 runs in just 19 balls. The specialty of both these innings is that he scored these runs during the chase in the first match, whereas in the second match, he batted with such explosiveness while batting first. He has hit 9 sixes and 3 fours in just 31 balls. In such a situation, if his performance continues throughout the season, then not only will it prove to be good for his team, but it can also become the reason for Rajat’s entry in Team India.