Team India has made an impressive start to the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Test series, beating Australia by a huge margin of an inning and 132 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match contest. However, Indian star opener KL Rahul continued his poor Test form in the first Test match against Australia in Nagpur.
KL Rahul’s Poor Form Continues
Rahul, who was picked ahead of Shubman Gill as an opener for the Nagpur Test, scored 20 runs after facing 71 runs in the first innings.
KL Rahul has found himself under the scanner for his below-par performances. In fact, his form and latest failures have raised questions ahead of the 2nd Test match in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Several experts and former cricketers have pointed fingers at his place in the Indian squad, despite poor performances, and have even demanded him to be dropped from the playing XI.
It has to be noted that Rahul’s last purple patch in Test cricket was in 2016-17. In 2018, Rahul’s decline started and since then he has scored 1196 runs in 25 Tests at an average of 26.57. During this tough phase, the only time Rahul was able to surpass the batting average of 25 was in 2021.
Mayank Agarwal Can Replace KL
Meanwhile, the BCCI will soon announce the Indian Test team for the last two Test matches and the upcoming ODI series against Australia. Considering the poor performances of KL Rahul, he might get dropped from the playing XI and he can be replaced by his best friend and one of the finest batters in the domestic circuit — Mayank Agarwal.
While KL Rahul is getting consistent chances in the Indian squad, despite poor performances, on the other hand, a player like Mayank Agarwal, who is piling heaps of runs has been dropped from India’s Test squad.
While KL continues to go through a tough phase, Mayank Agarwal is in red-hot form and has been making a lot of headlines for his sensational run in the ongoing edition of the Ranji Trophy. He has amassed close to 1,000 runs for Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy. Agarwal is the highest run scorer in the current season of the Ranji Trophy.
Agarwal’s best score has been 249 runs, due to his performance, the Karnataka team reached the semi-finals. Agarwal may also get a chance for the last two Test matches against Australia.
