The long rope that KL Rahul has been enjoying in Test cricket despite lack of big scores is beginning to look like a thin thread now. From captaining the side only a couple of months ago in Rohit Sharma’s absence in Bangladesh, the opener now has lost the vice-captaincy for the remaining two Tests against Australia and is in line to miss his place in the XI to Shubman Gill.
For a player whose very place in the squad has been subject to scrutiny, Rahul might feel retaining the place in itself is huge, especially because for a change the selectors and the team management have decided not to go with popular sentiment.
Instead, they have chosen to retain faith in a player, who appears to be massively short on confidence. In 47 Tests, Rahul averages only 33.44 and since scoring last of his seven centuries against South Africa in Centurion, he has scores of 23, 50, 8, 12, 10, 22, 23, 10, 2, 20, 17, 1. And with each outing the calls have only increased to drop him, especially because in Shubman Gill, India has an in-form opener who is warming the bench. And beyond Gill, there is Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prithvi Shaw, Ruturaj Gaikwad waiting for the call-up.
Sunil Gavaskar had also slammed KL Rahul for his failure against Australia in the 2nd Test. (AP)
In an age where each performance is scrutinised so minutely, with so many options around, seeking a change has become a norm. For a batsman who is looking to get a big score, such a commotion is not the ideal backdrop, but it is what modern cricketers have to live with. Growing up, Rahul had to live up to managing the expectations and it was a different sort of burden, and now the 30-year-old is feeling the opposite of it, where almost everyone apart from the Indian cricketing management want him nowhere near the Test team.
Had India ended up losing the Kotla Test, Rahul may not have been as fortunate. For all the giant strides India have taken on the field, they are still pretty shaky in some areas, where immediate answers are sought for the odd failures on home turf. And invariably, the axe would have fallen on Rahul, never mind that the conditions have not been easy for batsmen across both the teams.
It is that aspect that Indian team-management and the selectors factored in before retaining him for the remaining two Tests. “Of late there has been a lot of talk about his batting, but for us as team management, we always look at the potential of any individual, not just KL,” skipper Rohit Sharma, who had experienced a similar phase in his career, said. “I was asked in the past about a lot of players, and if the guy has potential, guys will get that extended run. It’s not just about KL, but anyone. If you look at the couple of hundreds he got outside India, two of the best I’ve seen from KL, especially at Lord’s – batting on a damp pitch, losing the toss, put in, and playing in England is never easy, and he put in a great performance there, and Centurion was another one. Both came in India wins, so again, that’s the potential he has,” Rohit said.
This notion is something that even the selectors felt was worth acknowledging. And what is also lost in the commotion is after the tour of South Africa, Rahul’s next series was only in Bangladesh as he missed the home series against Sri Lanka and the one-off Test in England. While the slow conditions in Bangladesh and the spinning tracks in India have troubled Rahul, it has created issues for the rest of the batting line-up too. Now, Rahul is fortunate that in Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid, he has a duo that is backing him to the core.
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It is a luxury that he himself has not enjoyed previously under Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, where the trio of M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and Rahul appeared to be playing musical chairs every second Test. “I think he needs to trust his processes. This is just a phase, he has been one of our most successful overseas openers. He’s got hundreds in South Africa and England, we’ll continue to back him. I believe he has the quality and class to come out of this. It is great working with this unit, managing formats is the most difficult part,” Dravid said.
End of vice captaincy
And although Rahul might still get to hold his place in the squad, all things, especially losing the vice-captaincy tag, points to Gill replacing him in the next two Tests. India also feel Gill offers them another attacking option at the top, something that could be key on red-soil pitches. During the 2021 tour of England, Rahul was seen as a middle-order option with Rohit and Gill being the preferred choice. An injury to Gill, flew ajar the door for Rahul to open, and in the next six months he showed signs of coming of age as an opener. Instead, here he is with his Test career at cross-roads than ever before.
If Gill walks into the XI at Indore on March 1, there won’t be any raised eyebrows. But someone with close proximity to the Indian team management posed a question. “With the sort of pitches we are playing in, if Gill also ends up with low scores, what do we do next? Won’t that affect his confidence also? Should we look at someone else?”
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Of course, this is not to say Rahul will retain his place at the top, but he still remains part of their plans in the current WTC cycle. What happens beyond that, it is anybody’s guess. But for now, Khel Rahul seems to be the message from Team India.
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February 20, 2023 at 05:17PM
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IND vs AUS: Stripped of vice-captaincy KL Rahul to lose playing XI spot to Shubman Gill for Indore Test - The Indian Express
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