Indian batter Hanuma Vihari slammed the team management and selectors for ignoring Rajat Patidar for the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. Patidar scored 501 runs in 14 innings in IPL 2026 at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 192.69 and thus played a key role in RCB’s success.
Patidar has been leading RCB from the front in the last two seasons and has got the best out of his players. The Madhya Pradesh batter is scoring his runs at a blistering strike rate in the middle overs and has an impressive record against the spinners.
“It’s a serious case of why Kuldeep Yadav has not been included. He is a wrist-spinner with experience. Why did you not play him? Also, if you did not want Sanju Samson for the Zimbabwe series, you sent Prabhsimran. Fine. But you did not even consider giving an opportunity to Rajat Patidar. Why should age be a factor? If you have taken many players who performed in the IPL, then why not Patidar? You have filled the team with left-handers. There is no right-hander apart from Shreyas,” Hanuma Vihari said in a video on his YouTube channel.
The 32-year-old batter reckons India’s top three batters – Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Ishan Kishan need to be at their best on the Zimbabwe tour.
“Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Suryavanshi will probably open in the first game. Not the best of starts for Vaibhav but he has shown glimpses. The challenge for him here will not be pace but bounce from the likes of Ngarava and Muzarabani. How he tackles it is the only question. Abhishek is also either scoring fifty or getting out for small scores; there is no consistency. But because of the brand of cricket they play, we also know that it is a little difficult to expect that consistency from either of them,” he explained.
Vihari highlighted that Ishan Kishan has veered off the track in the last two series and would look to get back in form.
“Ishan Kishan scored consistently before the World Cup, in the World Cup, and in the IPL as well, but faltered a bit in the last two series. That is okay; it can happen to anyone, so there is no need to criticise him. But my only question is if these were the two wicket-keepers for Zimbabwe, they sat Sanju Samson and not Kishan. Samson was the ‘Player of the tournament’. Yes, Kishan made a comeback and played very well. But both gave an equal performance in the World Cup. As Kishan got the nod, it is an important series for him,” Hanuma Vihari said.
