‘Rahul has to Go Without a Doubt’: Ex-Cricketer’s Stern Verdict on India Opener for Australia Tests

Team India on Sunday scripted a famous Test victory while chasing a lowly 145-run target against Bangladesh on a turning Mirpur track. The visitors had a gloomy start to their second innings; losing four wickets at the brink of stumps on day three and then having three more dismissals in the first hour of the fourth day’s play.

Bangladesh were about the cross the finish line but an unbeaten 71-run stand between Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin for the 8^th wicket dragged them back to take India home. The close victory handed a 2-0 lead to the visitors and also, took them to the second spot on the World Test Championship points table.

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Though India denied an upset at the last moment, certain areas still need to be addressed. One of them is KL Rahul’s form which barred the team from getting good starts in both Tests. The stand-in captain managed to score only 22, 23, 10, and 2 in the four innings. To his dismay, the opening batter has scored only 137 runs in four Test matches in 2022, at an average of 17.13.

Former cricketer Wasim Jaffer believes stand-in Indian skipper KL Rahul will be dropped from the playing XI in the upcoming four-match home Test series against Australia, following his poor batting performance in the two-Test series in Bangladesh.

Speaking with ESPNCricinfo, Jaffer questioned KL Rahul and Shubman Gill’s defensive strategy while chasing a tiny target of 145, saying that the top-order batters allowed the spinners from Bangladesh to dominate in the fourth innings.

“KL Rahul has to go without a doubt, in my opinion. He had a pretty ordinary series as a batsman. If Rohit Sharma comes in, KL has to make a way,” Jaffer said.

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“I don’t see many changes happening. Mohammad Shami may return along with captain Rohit Sharma. Apart from that, I think, Sarfaraz Khan, and if I speak of a wild card, then Suryakuamr Yadav could be there in the mix,” he added.

Bangladesh were on their way to their first-ever Test victory against India when Shreyas Iyer (29 not out off 46 balls) and Ravichandran Ashwin (42 not out off 62 balls) thwarted them with an unbeaten 71-run stand on 105 balls.

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