India opener KL Rahul’s poor run of low scores in Test cricket continued as after scoring 20 in the first Test against Australia in Nagpur, he could only manage 17 runs in the first innings of the ongoing second Test which is being played in Delhi.
This has led to his statemate and former India cricketer Venkatesh Prasad to slam him on social media, pointing out how KL Rahul has been continuously given chances despite India having the choice of Shubman Gill in the squad, who is in very good form.
KL Rahul fell LBW to Nathan Lyon despite hitting him for a six as India lost their first four wickets in 1st innings to the veteran Australian tweaker. Rohit Sharma fell for 32, Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck and Shreyas Iyer made 4 runs.
Then Virat Kohli (44) and Ravindra Jadeja (26) added 59 runs to bring some stability to the innings and then it was R Ashwin (37) and Akshar Patel (74), who added 114 runs for the 8th wicket and brought India close to Australia’s total of 263 runs.
Meanwhile, Venkatesh Prasad continued questioning KL Rahul’s spot in the Indian XI in Tests and even pointed out his low average, which he had tweeted some time back.
“And the torrid run continues. More to do with rigidity of the management to persist with a player who just hasn’t looked the part. No top order batsman in atleast last 20 years of Indian cricket has played these many tests with such a low average,” he tweeted.
He pointed out who more deserving openers were sidelined to accommodate Rahul in the team and named Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill as a few.
“deliberately denying talented guys, in form guys an opportunity to be in the 11. Shikhar had a test avg of 40+ , Mayank has of 41+ with 2 double hundreds, Shubhman Gill in sublime form, Sarfaraz never ending wait.. Many domestic performances constantly ignored,” he continued.
He furthermore, recalled how talented openers like SS Das and S Ramesh couldn’t go beyond 20-odd Tests due to poor performance, yet KL Rahul is a constant in the Indian team.
He also didn’t count Rahul amongst the top 10 openers in India and pointed out that Kuldeep Yadav was dropped despite a Player of the Match performance due to horses for courses approach, but said, Rahul was not a horse for any course.
“His inclusion shakes belief in Justice. SS Das had great potential, so did S Ramesh,both avgd 38+but did not get beyond 23 test matches. Rahul’s consistent inclusion gives an impression of lack of batting talent in India which isn’t true. Last 5 years his avg is below 27 in 47 inn,” he said.
“As per me ,he is currently not amongst the current 10 best opener’s in India but is being given endless chances. Guys like Kuldeep Yadav put in man of the match performances and next game are dropped with theories like Horses for courses. In any course ,KL is not a horse. Sad,” he added.
