Chandrakant Pandit likens Rajat Patidar to Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar

2022 has been exceptional for Madhya Pradesh's Rajat Patidar, who sparkled with the bat in the Ranji Trophy competition and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Patidar, who scored a match-winning 122 and 30* for MP in the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 final against Mumbai, finished the competition as the second-highest run-getter with 658 runs, behind Mumbai's Sarfaraz Khan (982).

MP's head coach Chandrakant Pandit has lauded Patidar's endeavours this season and compared him to talents like Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli.

According to a news on RCB's official website, Pandit said, "The quality player picks up the line and length very quickly. It is like, you know he has that extra time than other players.

I don't want to compare with anyone, but if I have to take a name... Rohit Sharma has extra time with his batting; you can talk about Virat, and Sachin Tendulkar; they had that little bit of extra time to pick the line and length. Rajat does too. To play the shot through the covers off the back foot, that is not everyone can manage at that pace."

Patidar had an impressive outing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) this year, coming in for the injured Luvnith Sisodia. 

The six-time Ranji-winning coach also gave a sneak-peek into Patidar's mindset after experiencing a poor run with RCB last year, where he was much-hyped.

Pandit explained, "One has to understand a quality player can go through a lean patch. Everyone has not recognized Rajat. Last season (IPL)... naturally, his first season, in T20, you're obviously expected to hit every time. He has got that experience coming back this season; just before that hundred, we have seen a couple of innings of 30, 40, 50."

"He has realized what has to be done. He has been in touch with me, he has been talking to me, the team has so many stalwarts behind him, he is expected to go after the bowlers; if you're connecting the ball, then you must not stop, or you shouldn't be trying to play 20 overs to get the runs, because Maxwell... the other batters are behind him. They should be given enough opportunities too. 

That is one of the reasons he has to bat that way. It is a team demand, and one has to follow that obviously," the former India player concluded. 

The RCB player scored 71 runs from 4 innings in his inaugural IPL season, which saw him being omitted from the squad altogether in 2022.

However, in his second IPL run, the 29-year-old smashed 333 runs from 8 games, including his maiden T20 hundred in Eliminator 1 against the Lucknow Super Giants.