Rajat Patidar’s teammate recalls the time when he smashed Shami, Dinda to all parts of the ground

The 28-year-old batter from Madhya Pradesh, Rajat Patidar put on a show for Bangalore in the Eliminator match against Lucknow on Thursday at Eden Gardens Stadium. He smashed a century in just 49 deliveries and went on to play an unbeaten knock of 112 runs in just 54 deliveries, including 12 fours and 7 sixes. His knock helped the team reach a mammoth score of 207 runs on the board. Bangalore, eventually, won the game by 14 runs.

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For those of you who don’t know, Rajat Patidar went unsold at the Indian T20 League 2022 Mega Auction. He was, initially, wasn’t even part of the Bangalore squad for the ongoing edition of the tournament. However, a month later, Sanjay Bangar called him after batter Luvnith Sisodia got injured. On Thursday, Patidar showed his potential to the world by smashing the balls to all parts of the ground.

Notably, it isn’t the first time when the Indian cricketer has played such a knock in a tense game. He is a household name in India’s domestic cricket. Playing for Madhya Pradesh, Patidar has taken the team out of trouble on many occasions in Ranji Trophy. He is, in fact, known as the sankat-mochan’ in the team.

“Rajat sankat-mochan hai hamare team ka . He has played such kind of innings before but as none came on TV, people didn’t know about him earlier. Now that he has scored (on Wednesday night), he has certainly become the Hanuman of RCB,” Ishwar Pandey, the veteran fast bowler, told The Indian Express about his Madhya Pradesh team-mate.

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His team-mates got convinced that he was destined to make it big after he smashed the likes of Mohammed Shami, Dinda to all parts of the ground while playing against Bengal in a Ranji Trophy match.

“The way he was hitting Shami and Dinda, we saw a different class that day. He has that extra time. It was then that we knew this boy will do something for himself," said Pandey.

Rajat Patidar hails from a family, that are manufacturers of pipes used for irrigation. His family wanted him to look after the business. However, the 28-year-old had bigger dreams and one of them came true on Thursday.