Cricket fans were left disappointed to see the star opener Ruturaj Gaikwad being overlooked yet another time in the ongoing third ODI match. Having already lost the series, the Indian side made some big changes in their playing XI, going into the dead rubber third ODI match against South Africa in Cape Town.
The Indian side made four big changes as Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Prasidh Krishna and Deepak Chahar were included in the squad replacing R Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Venkatesh Iyer and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
However, Indian and CSK’s star opener Ruturaj Gaikwad continued to warm the bench for the second successive limited-overs series after the Indian side didn’t give the young CSK opener a chance to play.
Fans were disappointed to see Ruturaj Gaikwad being overlooked yet another time. Several experts, fans, and pundits took to Twitter and slammed KL Rahul and Indian team management for ignoring Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Here, check out how fans are trolling KL Rahul:
Kl Rahul knows that his opening slot will be in danger if he give chance to Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Most selfish player i have ever saw?? pic.twitter.com/EBvXeSwnmD— Frozen? (@ein_scofield) January 23, 2022
No Ruturaj Gaikwad
KL Rahul still playing as an opener
Deepak Chahar over Siraj“New Era” pic.twitter.com/RbsurX9kmI
— Hemant (@Sportscasmm) January 23, 2022
KL Rahul needs to bat in the middle order if Rutu will be opening. And the whole world knows how selfish player is Rahul is in ODIs and the same is visible when he plays for KXIP. And now the same thing will happen for Lucknow.
— SANJEET PATEL (@patelsanjeet007) January 23, 2022
Don’t givt Kl rahul captaincy
He is a clown
Worst captain ever
Selfish and statpadder#KLRahul #BCCIPolitics #Ruturaj— Aditya Chapke (@AdityaChapke) January 23, 2022
KL Rahul is literally the most selfish player I have seen in recent times. Why couldn’t he just go to his original batting position (4,5) and let V Iyer/Ruturaj open with Dhawan? When Rohit returns he will bat in middle order only.#INDvSA
— Ayush (@Ayushh_K) January 23, 2022
Still no Ruturaj Gaikwad!
I’m sure he will get to play against West Indies two weeks later and will score runs #INDvsSA
— Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) January 23, 2022
Meanwhile, Rahul won the toss and elected to bowl in the third and last ODI match. “Looks like a nice wicket, bit sticky I think. We’ll try to get some early wickets and want to put up a performance. The boys are motivated, the energy has been great.”
“We have forgotten what has happened in the first two games. We have some plans. There are few things we need to fix,” said Rahul at the time of toss.
India’s Playing XI:
KL Rahul (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini
South Africa’s Playing XI:
Temba Bavuma (captain), Keshav Maharaj, Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Zubayr Hamza, Marco Jansen, Janneman Malan, Sisanda Magala, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne
