'It Is A Problem For KL Rahul' - Says Aakash Chopra After Shubman Gill Hits Maiden Test Century

He scored 23 and 22 in two innings and Gill on the other side smashed his maiden century in the format.

KL Rahul has been struggling to perform with the bat.

Source : Getty

New Delhi: India's ace batter KL Rahul has been struggling to score runs for quite a sometime now. In the ongoing Test between India and Bangladesh, Rahul has not been able to score runs. He scored 23 and 22 in two innings and Gill on the other side smashed his maiden century in the format.

The Punjab-based batter has been a regular sight in the Test setup since 2020. He has had a few 90-plus scores but could not get to his century. However, he finally did it in the Test match against Bangladesh. according to former India cricketer Aakash Chopra, there is a bit of a problem for Rahul as every time the team cannot keep Gill out since he has scored runs. 

Talking on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, "It is a problem for KL Rahul that he has had two low scores. He got an inside edge in the first innings and got out to the bouncer trap in the second innings. He is an amazing player but with the job Shubman Gill has done, who will go out when Rohit Sharma comes back?

"Shubman Gill got out in the first innings but struck 110 runs off 152 balls in the second innings. Whenever you give him a chance, he grabs it with both hands, and gives you a sweet headache, that how will you keep him out?" said Chopra.

"What makes Shubman Gill special? He plays extremely clean. His playing style aligns with white-ball cricket, that his feet and body remain beside the ball and the path is always clean for the bat's downswing.

"He is aggressive by nature and has a very good temperament to play a big knock. He has struck a century and it's the first of many. He can play as an opener on subcontinental pitches, will score runs as well, but when I see him closely, I feel he is a No. 3 or No. 4 batter, for a long, long, long time," Chopra added.

Squads:

India: KL Rahul (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Saurabh Kumar, Kona Bharat, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Litton Das (wk), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mominul Haque, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Anamul Haque Bijoy, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanta, Rejaul Rahaman Raja, Zakir Hasan (wk), Nurul Hasan (wk), Yasir Ali.