Former India captain Kris Srikkanth asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take an immediate decision on Tilak Verma and Rajat Patidar to reshape the team for the T20I format.
Srikanth told in one of his YouTube videos that Rajat Patidar deserves to play for India in place of Tilak Verma. Team India confirmed a 3-0 series win against Zimbabwe in Harare on Sunday.
Tilak Verma’s performance has not been good for India in the recent few matches.
In the third and final match of the bilateral series, Tilak Verma scored 11 runs in 9 balls. India won the match by 35 runs and ensured the elimination of the host team.
India won but left behind some questions as some of its batsmen could not score runs consistently against Zimbabwe. Tilak Verma is one of those batsmen who infuriated Kris Srikkanth. The former India batsman questioned the approach of middle-order batsmen in the format.
“Once again, Tilak took nine balls. He can’t play fast for long. Where is the consistency? Tell me? What did he do in England? There will be an innings here and there,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
Kris Srikkanth asks BCCI to include Rajat Patidar in T20 team
In support of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar, who helped the team win the Indian Premier League trophy twice in two consecutive seasons, the former cricketer strongly felt that Patidar could have performed much better than Tilak against Zimbabwe and England.
He said, “He is nothing compared to Rajat Patidar. If you want a really solid T20 innings, go to Patidar, give him a chance. Everyone is getting chances like Yash Thakur; give him a chance too.”
With an innings of over fifty runs, Tilak Verma scored 77 runs in the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. Abhishek Sharma is another batsman whose form is questionable. He played all three matches of the series and could not register a half-century.
In his last ten innings for the Indian cricket team, Abhishek has scored only 191 runs with one half-century. In the last four innings, the opening batsmen were out after scoring only single digits.
Chris Srikkanth also expressed doubt on Abhishek Sharma
Due to the slump, Kris Srikkanth mentioned in the same YouTube video that since the hat-trick of ducks in the 2026 T20 World Cup, the southpaw has lost his pace and the selectors should now think of replacing Abhishek with someone who is capable of scoring runs regularly for India.
Chris Srikkanth said, “Abhishek Sharma has been eliminated from international cricket since the World Cup. I think now a tough decision will have to be taken against him. I think Sanju will now get a chance again. He will get a 100% call back. The selectors will have to take a tough decision.”
After the conclusion of back-to-back white-ball series, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Verma will get some rest to regroup themselves as India look to play against Sri Lanka for the Test series as their next assignment.
