Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris believes that India batter KL Rahul may find it difficult to feature in the playing XI after being out of cricketing action for more than 2 months.
Rahul was last seen in action in the IPL 2022 Eliminator on May 25 at the Eden Gardens against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Rahul had an outstanding season with the newly formed Lucknow Super Giants this year, scoring 616 runs with a staggering average of 51.33 apiece in 15 games while also smashing 2 hundreds and 4 half-centuries.
He was selected for India's five-match T20I series against South Africa at home in June as a result of his performance, and in Rohit Sharma's absence, who was rested for the series, Rahul was also appointed as Team India's captain.
However, on the eve of the first T20I, he suffered a groin injury that prevented him from playing. He later underwent a sports hernia operation in Germany, which forced him to skip the entire England tour and ODI series against West Indies.
He was recuperating at the National Cricket Academy when he contracted Covid-19 which meant that he wasn’t named for the ongoing T20I series in the Caribbean.
According to Scott Styris, the Indian team selectors are left with a lot of question marks regarding Rahul’s place in the playing XI given the manner Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant are batting.
“It’s a different mindset for players because they don’t want to be out and they don’t want to be giving other players opportunities. I know India has a very good culture within its group, so it doesn’t mind allowing other players opportunities all the time. I know as a player myself, you never wanted to give somebody else a chance to take your spot," he said on the ‘Sports Over The Top’ show on Sports18.
“So with the fact that he’s out injured and he’s away from the team at the moment, it just means that other players are able to do what Suryakumar is doing, what Rishabh Pant is doing, getting in there, taking the chance scoring runs and really posing the selectors some questions saying, do we actually need KL Rahul?" he added.
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The former cricketer continued by questioning whether the 30-year-old will be able to regain his form after making a comeback given how much cricket he has missed.
“Is he going to be in good form when he comes back? He has missed a lot of cricket, a lot of question marks now present themselves just because he’s been able to give other players that opportunity," he remarked.
The star batter is expected to be fit for the Asia Cup, which begins on August 27 in the UAE.
(NEWS18 INPUTS)
