Former Indian cricketer and national head coach of team India, Ravi Shastri have backed star opener KL Rahul to play as a keeper-batter in the upcoming ICC Test Championship 2021-2023 final against Australia.
The Indian cricket team and Australian cricket team both have officially qualified for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final. The summit clash is scheduled to take place at The Oval in London from June 7 to 11.
The Indian cricket team is without the services of their first-choice keeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who has been ruled out for an indefinite period of time after his horrific road accident last December. In his absence, KS Bharat kept wickets for team India in the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
However, KS Bharat failed to leave a mark with his bat in the four-match series and was also criticized for his performance with the gloves as he missed several chances behind the stumps. He could only score 101 runs in 4 games at an average of 20.2, with the best score of 44.
Ravi Shastri Backed KL Rahul
Meanwhile, Shastri is very impressed with the keeping skills of KL Rahul in the 1st ODI match against Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Extending his support to the star opener to make his comeback in the WTC 2023 Final, Shastri said:
“He has really done well to keep the selectors interested ahead of the WTC final,”
He added: “Two things, one for the ODI series when Rohit Sharma returns and the other for the WTC final. India can bolster their batting if Rahul can keep wickets. Rahul can bat in the middle-order No. 5 or No. 6. in England, you have to generally keep wickets from far behind. You don’t have to keep up to the spinners a lot. He has 3 more ODIs to go before the IPL. He can cement his place in that Indian team,”
It has to be noted, KL Rahul has been under the scanner of criticism and trolling because of his poor form and inconsistent performances, was dropped from the XI and also lost his Test vice-captaincy after the first two Tests against Australia. Shubman Gill replaced KL Rahul and joined Rohit Sharma at the top of the order.
