Team India registered a comprehensive 188-run victory over Bangladesh in Chattogram Test to take an unbeatable 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
In the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul led the visitors in the opening Test but failed to make a mark with the bat.
The right-handed opener returned with scores of 22 and 23 across the two innings. As a result, he is drawing flak for his lean patch from the fans and many former cricketers alike.
Amid the criticism, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has backed KL Rahul, stating that people are "fickle minded" as they want the stand-in captain to be dropped just because some other player is doing well.
“There is nothing much to see from India's viewpoint. You want KL Rahul to score runs because he is an amazing player. It is not that he has become a bad player, but the environment in Indian cricket at the moment is that they are blaming Rahul whenever anything goes wrong. They are asking when Rahul will get dropped. In India, when someone does well, we want the other one to be left out. We are so fickle-minded, we change our opinions so quickly. It seems at the moment that there is no player more ordinary than KL Rahul because that environment has gotten created," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
For the second Test, which got underway on December 22 in Dhaka, Aakash Chopra wants the two centurions of Chattogram Test – Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara – to maintain their batting form and also hoped that star batter Virat Kohli will end his century drought in the longest format, which has now lasted for more than three years.
“I am looking for first-innings runs from Shubman Gill because you will need runs there. Cheteshwar Pujara – once again, a similar style. Runs from Virat Kohli's bat. We were saying that Cheteshwar has scored a century after so many years. The truth is that Virat Kohli's last century came in the pink-ball Test at the Eden Gardens against Bangladesh in 2019. After that, a Test century has not come. He hasn't played too much cricket as well but hasn't scored too many runs in whatever he has played. So, you expect runs from his bat, that he also scores a century," Chopra stated.
Talking about the second Test, India were 19/0 at the close of play on Day 1, with Shubman Gill and KL Rahul unbeaten in the middle on 14 and 3 respectively.
Earlier, the tourists rode on Umesh Yadav (4-25) and R Ashwin’s (4-71) four-wicket hauls to bundle out Bangladesh for 227 in the first innings.
