India opener KL Rahul’s indifferent form of the past few months with the bat, post making his comeback after the injury, continues as he managed just 10 runs off 45 balls in India’s first innings in the ongoing Dhaka Test against Bangladesh.
This was after his scores of 22 and 23 in the Chattogram Test. Ever since his comeback in the Asia Cup, KL Rahul has been highly inconsistent with several disappointing knocks, only punctuated by a few decent ones.
At the moment, KL Rahul’s average in 7 Test innings in 2022 stands at a lowly 19!
KL Rahul had a really uncomfortable outing today in Dhaka. He was conservative with his approach and only his 1 four in 45 deliveries that he faced. Shakib Al Hasan had trapped him lbw, but the on-field umpire’s decision had to be overturned after, on review, the ball was found to be missing the leg-stump.
Against left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, though, KL Rahul couldn’t survive for long on this pitch and eventually, the spinner dismissed the Indian opener lbw. Rahul skipped down the track but missed the ball on his block. Even though the umpire denied the appeal, Bangladesh took it to the third umpire who got the decision overturned as the ball was hitting the legstump, and Rahul was declared out as his lean patch exaggerated.
In Test cricket, earlier in the year, too, KL Rahul barely played a significant knock – scores of 50, 8, 12, and 10 in South Africa and he missed the two Tests vs Sri Lanka due to injury.
Another cheap score by KL Rahul, who is a senior batter and also the captain for this series, led to a mass trolling of the opener on social media:
Trying to understand what goes on inside KL Rahul at the crease. pic.twitter.com/z6iQWtw2Rg
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) December 23, 2022
KL Rahul is an enigma and a confusing+frustrating batter to analyse. Just when you think he’ll take the next step in his career, he goes back to being his usual self.
You see him nail a difficult role of batting at 5 in ODIs, but struggle in easier roles. https://t.co/8IpHRE6ayQ
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) December 23, 2022
Kl Rahul is a mediocre player who is hyped beyond his own imagination. Forget the captaincy we should move on from him, there are plenty of talents waiting for him and people who are fan of this guy are very optimistic who actually expects anythng from him I feel sorry for you.
— Archer (@poserarcher) December 23, 2022
Time to call KL Rahul’s India career!! Inconsistency has been the hallmark of his career, both in white ball and red ball cricket. Incredibly lucky chap.
— K Sudarshan (@SudarshanEMA) December 23, 2022
KL Rahul’s contribution in all 3 format pic.twitter.com/UX92Law6Pd
— Rajabets India🇮🇳👑 (@smileandraja) December 14, 2022
How almost 31 years old KL Rahul is the future of indian team? Average 35 after 44 tests. Even Ravindra jadeja’s test average is better than him.
Shikhar and mayank’s average is better than him but they are out of the team. And Rahul is captain. Pathetic from BCCI#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/6nkp2oUB2N
— Rishikesh Kumar (@RishikeshViews) December 14, 2022
I am running out of words. Never seen such biasness for any player in international cricket. He will also open vs australia in next test series.#KLRahul #INDvBAN #BANvIND pic.twitter.com/MU5tF0ORm4
— Rishikesh Kumar (@RishikeshViews) December 23, 2022
Just another day of being a KL Rahul fan. pic.twitter.com/pQcyeCC58I
— ಭಲೇ ಬಸವ (@Basavachethanah) December 23, 2022
5 minutes after Dravid sends KL Rahul to open the innings. pic.twitter.com/MAZLS0zHd6
— yaarivanu_unknownu (@memesmaadonu) December 23, 2022
KL Rahul’s Test returns don’t match the talent he has. #BANvIND pic.twitter.com/uW89pmxfiD
— CricBlog ✍ (@cric_blog) December 23, 2022
Even Kl Rahul does not know why he is in playing XI !!! #INDvsBAN pic.twitter.com/2MfH1odgZg
— D (@A7pha_) December 23, 2022
Rishabh Pant has once again saved the Indian batting innings after the top-order malfunction. In reply to Bangladesh’s 227, India slipped to 94/4 and stared at a first-innings deficit. But Pant, staying true to his nature and not letting the tough pitch get into his head, played his trademark counter-attacking innings, and got good support from Shreyas Iyer.
At the time of writing, India are 189/4, with the partnership between Pant and Iyer being 96* (104). Pant (68* off 77) is batting at a strike rate of 88 and Iyer (40 off 44) at 90.
