Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle believes that is about time that India move on from KL Rahul in Test cricket and give young and in-form Shubman Gill a go at the format and a consistent run at it.
Harsha Bhogle’s opinion came after KL Rahul’s failures in the second Test against Australia, which India won by 6 wickets and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in Delhi, taking a 2-0 series lead with 2 matches to go.
The BCCI and the selectors have already given a big indication that KL Rahul’s position in the Test XI has become untenable when the selectors announced the squad for the next two Tests: KL Rahul has been retained in the squad, but he has been sacked as the vice-captain.
Rahul was the vice-captain for the first two Tests in which he registered scores of 20, 17 and 1, but now has been sacked as the vice-captain, making it easier for the team management to drop him.
Since the start of 2022, KL Rahul averages only 15 in 11 Test innings
KL Rahul has not gone past the score of 25 in his last 10 Test innings.
With the second Test in Delhi ending inside 3 days, and the third Test, in Indore, starting on March 1, there is a gap of 10 days for the Indian team management to ponder big over making the call of dropping KL Rahul.
Harsha Bhogle believes that Gill should be given opportunities over Rahul in the next half of the series.
“India have time to ponder over the make-up of their team for Indore and Ahmedabad. He was unlucky today but it might be time to look at Shubman Gill over KL Rahul,” Harsha Bhogle tweeted.
Head coach Rahul Dravid, though, has thrown his weight behind KL Rahul, saying that the opener will be backed.
“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,” Dravid said.
Dravid is optimistic that KL Rahul will come out of this rut.
“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. But there’s not a lot of technical coaching, just simple conversations and challenging them, and giving them a pat on the back when they do well,” he said
