BAN v IND 2022: “He had a pretty ordinary series,” Jaffer expects KL Rahul to be benched during Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Rahul registered scores of 22, 23, 10 and 2 in the two-Test series against Bangladesh.

KL Rahul | GettyIndia’s stand-in skipper KL Rahul failed to make a mark with the bat in the just-concluded two-match Test series against Bangladesh.

The right-handed opener returned with scores of 22, 23, 10 and 2 over four innings in Chattogram and Dhaka. As a result, he is drawing flak from the fans and experts, with many of them questioning his place in the side.

Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer believes that Rahul will be benched in Test cricket after his ordinary outing in Bangladesh.

According to Jaffer, Shubman Gill will open the innings alongside regular captain Rohit Sharma during the upcoming four-match Test against Australia at home.

Notably, Gill slammed his maiden Test century (110) in the second innings of Chattogram Test while he amassed only 27 runs in two innings of Dhaka Test.

"KL Rahul has to go without a doubt, in my opinion. He had a pretty ordinary series as a batsman. If Rohit comes in, KL has to make a way," Jaffer said while speaking on ESPNCricinfo.

Wasim Jaffer was not pleased with KL Rahul and Shubman Gill's defensive strategy while chasing a small target of 145 in the second Test, saying that both the openers allowed the Bangladeshi spinners to dictate terms.

Bangladesh were on the verge of creating history, having reduced India to 74/7 at one stage. However, Shreyas Iyer (29*) and R Ashwin (42*) put on an unbeaten 71-run stand to take the visitors over the line with three wickets in hand.

"I expected Shubman Gill to come out and play his shots. That's what he did in the first innings. In the second innings, he'll probably be even more attacking or aggressive, even KL, he had a disappointing series, so I thought he'll come out and play his usual self which we've seen him before, but that didn't happen," Jaffer said.

"You put spinners on top, runs are not going to come easy anyway when you play defensively. The approach was pretty defensive," he further added.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 26 Dec, 2022

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