Team management wants to use Rahul in the middle-order with Mayank Agarwal and Abhimanyu Easwaran available for opening.
India opener Shubman Gill has been ruled out of the Test series against England, which is starting from August 4. Gill suffered an injury on his left leg and it will take him around 8 weeks to recover.
Currently, the Indian cricket team has three options for the opening spot to pair up with Rohit Sharma. But reports suggest KL Rahul may only be considered to play in the middle-order and not for the opening spot, which leaves India with the opening options of Mayank Agarwal and Abhimanyu Easwaran.
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Former India batsman Aakash Chopra is not in favor of slotting Rahul into the middle-order. He found the decision of the team management surprising.
"There are two very important aspects of this story. The first is that you have Mayank Agarwal and Abhimanyu Easwaran available to open the innings. Second is that there is KL Rahul as well but it is believed that he will not open. The team management has already declared that Rahul is only a middle-order choice," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"I mean, this is surprising, right? After all, he has scored five Test centuries and all of them have come opening the innings. Why do they suddenly want him to bat in the middle-order, I don't know."
Chopra found it hard to accept that Team India is no longer seeing Rahul as an opener. "I thought he was always a back-up opener but apparently, he's not. Even in extraordinary circumstances. I do understand but what I can't get a grip of is that Rahul is no longer an opener, he is a middle-order batsman. Wow."