As KL Rahul has been struggling to put up good performances on a consistent basis, former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh said that the flamboyant opener can be dropped from the limited-overs set-up if he fails to perform with the bat in the upcoming matches.
Rahul, India’s vice-captain in white-ball cricket, didn’t look at his best ever since he returned to action on the Zimbabwe tour from an injury that he sustained just before the home T20I series against South Africa. The 30-year-old even failed to deliver in the big matches against Pakistan, South Africa, and England at the T20 World Cup 2022.
Ahead of India’s ODI series in Bangladesh, starting on December 4 in Dhaka, the former cricketer advised Rahul to adopt a fearless approach with the bat to show his class in limited-overs cricket.
Maninder Singh said in a media interaction arranged by Sony Sports Network: “KL Rahul seems to have gone into a shell since the Zimbabwe series. He has to come out of it as we know what kind of a classy cricketer he is.”
He added, “You can’t even use up 5-6 overs upfront in ODI cricket. He needs to take a fearless approach in T20 and ODI cricket. You can be dropped even if you’re a vice-captain.”
Meanwhile, the former spinner was really impressed with the way the young opener Shubman Gill scored consistently well in ODIs this year. He also batted for Gill to play for the team in all three formats of the game, given his fearless approach that is necessary in modern-day cricket.
However, Gill is not part of India’s ODI series against Bangladesh, but he will return to the national side for the two-match Test series later this month. He was recently part of India’s New Zealand tour.
Maninder signed off by saying, “Shubman Gill looks like a different class of player from others. He needs to play consistently for India across formats as he has done well in Tests, ODIs and even in T20 cricket whenever he got a chance. You should open with him in white-ball cricket and have him at No.3-5 in the middle order in Tests. He has that fearless approach that is necessary going forward.”
