There has been a lot of debate going on over KL Rahul’s torrid form. The Karnataka-based player has not been scoring runs for quite some time now and he is getting constant support from the Indian team management. Because of playing backing Rahul, in-form players like Shubman Gill are warming benches.
In his last 10 innings, Rahul has the highest score of 23 in red ball cricket. Former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth spoke about the same.
“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 led the selection committee when India clinched the 2011 World Cup. According to him, Shubman Gill should play the third Test in Indore, starting March 1.
“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,” Srikkanth said.
“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 with all guns blazing,” Srikkanth said.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul, S Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, R Jadeja, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
Australia: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green (injured), Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc (injured), Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.