Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has boldly said that he will want the management to persist with Ishan Kishan as the opener, to partner Rohit Sharma, for the T20 World Cup and either push KL Rahul down the order – or drop him altogether from the T20 eleven!
He made his views public while speaking during the Cuttack T20I between India and South Africa. With Rohit rested, KL Rahul was supposed to lead the Men In Blue but a groin injury ahead of the first T20I ruled him out of the series, and Rishabh Pant was made the interim skipper.
Gambhir worked closely with KL Rahul during the IPL 2022 as mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants, who were led by the Karnataka batsman. While Rahul had another big IPL season – plundering over 600 runs – his strike was once again under question and criticism, especially when LSG lost the Eliminator to RCB with Rahul batting at strike rate of 135 in chase of over 200.
Gautam Gambhir dropped KL Rahul from his India eleven
Gambhir feels that the attacking instincts and the fearless style of batting of Ishan Kishan will be suited well for the Australian conditions and the left-hander could well be India’s “X-factor” for the T20 World Cup this year.
“Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma to open, and Suryakumar Yadav at number 3 for me. The question is, when KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return, will the Indian team persist with them? Because you always talk about X-factor and about having a fearless approach,” Gambhir said on Star Sports.
“Whether he scores runs or not, he brings in that fearless approach. Will they be tempted to start with him and Rohit and play KL Rahul in the middle order? But I would want to persist with him in Australian conditions where there will be bouncy wickets and he loves to pull off the backfoot and he hits the length ball very well. I think they should persist with him for this T20 World Cup. If he is in the scheme of things they play him till the World Cup,” the former KKR captain added.
Fans were really surprised by Gambhir ditching KL Rahul, the LSG captain, completely from India’s eleven as he opted for Deepak Hooda in the middle-order.
Here are some reactions of the shocked fans on Gambhir excluding Rahul:
Gautam gambhir in commentry just said india batting order in t20 world cup should be
1.ishan kishan
2. Rohit sharma
3. Suryakumar yadav
4. Virat kohli
5. Hooda
6. Pant
7. PandayaHe don’t want KL Rahul in world cup
— Rawani Aniket (@RawaniAniket2) June 12, 2022
@GautamGambhir ..#kl Rahul is not and opener????…not a good player????.. every other player is better than kl Rahul???…Be genuine… goutam gambhir…you are also player … don’t say anything…
— Avanish Kumar (@Avanish83987362) June 13, 2022
Gambhir’s Top 7 for T20 WC 2022
Rohit Sharma
Ishan Kishan
Suryakumar Yadav
Virat Kohli
KL Rahul
Rishabh Pant
Hardik Pandya#GautamGambhir #RohitSharma #IshanKishan #SuryakumarYadav #ViratKohli #KLRahul #RishabhPant #HardikPandya #T20 #T20I #Cricket #Sportsbettingmarkets pic.twitter.com/QxjHu3WCo6— Sportsbettingmarkets.com (@Sbettingmarkets) June 13, 2022
Bagair KL rahul ke kaise ??
@GautamGambhir pic.twitter.com/RyWuAToSEk
— Tufail prince (@Tufailprince5) June 13, 2022
Wow! Gambhir doesn’t have KL Rahul in his top-7 but has Ishan,Deepak Hooda in his team. Considering he has worked with him…
— Steph (@albatrosscric) June 12, 2022
