Former India captain and chief selector Kris Srikkanth said that while he rates underfire opener KL Rahul highly, it’s time that the Indian team moves on and gives Shubman Gill the chance to open in the third Test against Australia which begins in Indore from March 1.
India leads the four-Test series 2-0 and has retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well. They will be entering the third Test in Indore with the aim of winning the match and confirming their spot in the ICC World Test Championship final for the second year in a row.
KL Rahul has not been amongst runs scoring 20, 17, and 1 in three innings in this series, and even before that, he had been in poor form with the bat. The team management and captain Rohit Sharma have said that Rahul has their full backing, but recently the Karnataka opener lost his vice-captaincy in Tests.
Former India batter Krishnamachari Srikkanth says had he been the chairman of selectors, he would advise the under-fire cricketer to take a break.
“I have tremendous admiration for the class of Rahul, in fact I call him Rolls Royce Rahul… but it is just not happening for him at the moment. If I was the chairman of selectors, I would have gone up to him and told him to take a break for a while,” Srikkanth told the Times of India.
Srikkanth, the 1983 World Cup winner, says that while Rahul’s game doesn’t lack anything, his non-performance is more of a mental issue and that the time has come to play Gill.
“I cannot pinpoint a technical deficiency in his game at the moment. I think this is more mental and all Rahul needs to do is take a break and sort his mind out. There’s no reason why he can’t come back all guns blazing. But with all due respect to Rahul, it is time to play Shubman. You can’t keep a player waiting when he is in the form of his life,” he added.
The third Test will begin on March 1 and the final Test will be played in Ahmedabad from March 9 onwards.
