India keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has said that the team management can think of including KL Rahul in the Indian squad as a backup wicketkeeper for the ICC World Test Championship (ICC WTC 2023) final.
This comes after KL Rahul lost his vice-captaincy in Tests and was also dropped from the side after a long run of poor scores with the bat. His replacement Shubman Gill justified his selection with a sublime century in the ongoing fourth Test against Australia in Ahmedabad.
Batting heroics from Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill have put Team India on the cusp of a famous series win over Australia in the 2023 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India has already retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by winning the first two Tests for the fourth consecutive time.
India posted 571 in reply to Australia’s 480 runs in the first innings with Shubman Gill (128) and Virat Kohli (186) starring with the bat and Akshar Patel contributing 79 runs as well.
Senior Indian batter Dinesh Karthik observed that KL Rahul can be considered as a backup option to keep wickets for India at the World Test Championship final.
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"I will see how Rahul feels because KL is not somebody who enjoys keeping in Test cricket because it is a completely different ball game. But I will definitely keep that in the back of my mind. It is an option that is very, very usable if KL is up for wicketkeeping," said Karthik on Cricbuzz.
Karthik backed an in-form Gill to open the innings for India, if Rohit and Co. seal their spot for the summit clash of the World Test Championship, which will be played at the Oval in London from June 7-11.
"I will definitely go with Shubman Gill, there's no doubt about it. The man's got a hundred in the last Test before the WTC final. You get the feeling that Shubman Gill is in for the long run. He is a long racehorse. He's the one that you want to put your money on and say, 'I want to see him in 2033 still there opening for India'," Karthik added.
Australia has already qualified for the final of the WTC and India can secure their berth for the final if Sri Lanka fail to whitewash New Zealand in the ongoing two-match Test series.
