At Ranji Trophy semi-finals, who are the 8 players eyeing an India spot?
Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar.
The semifinals of the Ranji Trophy begins on Wednesday with Karnataka taking on Saurashtra at Bengaluru and Madhya Pradesh hosting Bengal at Indore.
Because of injury, Devdutt Padikkal has played only four matches so far and has gone down the pecking order. With in-form R Samarth and Mayank Agarwal continuing to bat at the top, Padikkal will once again play at No 3. Although a bit out of position, the opportunity provides Padikkal to be back among the national radar and at least get a chance in the A tours coming ahead.
The middle-order batsman Rajat Patidar has been in and out of the side. He narrowly missed out on having a place in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and with the squads for the last two Tests yet to be named, Patidar has an opportunity to be in contention. He has already amassed 513 runs, but has only one century in 6 matches. A big hundred in the semifinals and possibly at the final, would keep him in the loop in case there is an opening in the middle-order.