India’s star opener KL Rahul, who has been going through a rough patch in his career, has been dropped from India’s playing XI in the 3rd Test match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Young star Shubman Gill has been included in KL Rahul’s place in the playing XI.
KL Rahul, who was named vice-captain for the first two Tests, failed to leave a mark with his performance and scored just 38 runs in the series. In fact, KL scored 22, 23, 10, 2, 20, 17, and 1 in his last seven innings.
KL Rahul scored his last Test half-century in January 2022 against South Africa in Johannesburg and his last Test century came against the same opponents in December 2021. Because of his inconsistent performances and poor form, several cricketers and experts questioned his place in the playing XI.
On the other hand, Shubman Gill has been in a red-hot form. , having scored 736 runs in 13 Tests with one century and four half-centuries. Recently, he scored a double century in ODI and became one of the few Indian players to have a ton in all formats.
During the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma revealed the two changes in India’s playing XI from the 2nd Test. He said:
“We will have a bat first. It is a pretty good dressing room and like you said the morale is high. The guys are confident about their skills which is a good thing moving forward. We have played a lot of cricket (here) but this one (surface) is slightly different. Looks little dry and you have to adapt your skills and be at it all the time. We are there yet (WTC final) and we have to come and win this game, we have to try and repeat the things we did in the first two Tests. It is important to stay present. We have made two changes – Gill has come in place of KL. We have rested Shami, Umesh comes in place of him,”
Meanwhile, social media was soon flooded with reactions from the fans, who came up with hilarious memes after KL Rahul was dropped from the squad.
Check out the hilarious memes:
https://twitter.com/gentleman07_/status/1630774552941965312?s=20
*Shubman Gill replaces KL Rahul*#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/brD62PcFgc
— Arun Singh (@ArunTuThikHoGya) March 1, 2023
Shubman Gill replaces KL Rahul in 3rd tes
Venkatesh Prasad: pic.twitter.com/49PRwz6l1X
— Pulkit🇮🇳 (@pulkit5Dx) March 1, 2023
Gill replacing KL Rahul tells you a lot about the flexibility that this game offers to captain and coach to pick their playing XI before the start of any game.
— Parody, Unless Of Course (@TweetsOfBhogle) March 1, 2023
https://twitter.com/_Cricpedia/status/1630777631603048448?s=20
Good to see opener KL Rahul being replaced by opener Nitin Menon.
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) March 1, 2023
Venkatesh Prasad after knowing that KL Rahul was dropped in today's match pic.twitter.com/ULQSQX8fCs
— ಭಲೇ ಬಸವ (@Basavachethanah) March 1, 2023
Finally KL Rahul dropped 😐
Venkatesh Prasad right now :#INDvAUS #IndvsAus #BGT2023 #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/anRzb8ibc8— Yogi Says (@imyogi_26) March 1, 2023
https://twitter.com/theprayagtiwari/status/1630784320695836672?s=20
https://twitter.com/_krashn_/status/1630775593175506944?s=20
https://twitter.com/va_nshbaba/status/1630779703786352640?s=20
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann
