KL Rahul, the under-fire batter, has received huge backing from India head coach Gautam Gambhir ahead of the five-Test series against Australia (BGT 2024), that begins in Perth on November 22.
On Monday, Gautam Gambhir expressed his support for KL Rahul, the underdog batter, by stating that he is still a key component of India's strategy.
Rahul is the kind of player that not many teams have, Gambhir said the reporters prior to the team's departure for Australia with the second group of players.
After the first Test match against New Zealand, Rahul was benched. He subsequently took an early flight to Australia to practice with the India 'A' team.
Rahul's prospects of starting as an opener in the first Test were therefore greatly influenced by his performance during India A's second unofficial Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. India is considering their choices for an opener to join Yashaswi Jaiswal, as captain Rohit is expected to miss the first Test due to personal reasons.
"KL Rahul can bat in the top order, he can bat at No. 3, he can play at No. 6. So you need a lot of talent to do all these jobs, and he keeps (wickets) in ODIs. Imagine how many countries have players like KL! He is one of the options (to open batting) if Rohit is not available (for the first Test),” Gambhir told reporters.
He scored four runs in the first knock and ten in the second, for a total of just 14 runs in the two innings. The 32-year-old batsman received a lot of criticism for his strange demise in the second innings after being bowled between his legs while facing a spinner.
Prior to it, in two innings of the first Test match against New Zealand, he only managed to score 12 runs. He amassed 106 runs in three innings, with a peak of 68, in the two Test matches against Bangladesh that preceded the NZ series.
Coach Gambhir may have been more troubled by his generally patchy play as well as the lackluster performance of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Perth's second opening option.
On the question of Rohit's availability for the first Test, Gambhir said, "There is no confirmation. Hopefully, he is going to be available. Everything we will get to know before the start of the series. (Jasprit) Bumrah is the vice-captain. So obviously if Rohit is unavailable, he will lead the side."
(PTI inputs)
