Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has opened up about the form of KL Rahul in the Indian team. He feels that as a batter the right-hander needs to do a lot of things right and also needs to step up his game and turn up as a batsman soon.
“KL Rahul needs to turn up as a batsman pretty soon,” Wasim Jaffer on KL Rahul
KL Rahul has been under the firing line for a while as his poor performances have seen calls raising to his omission from the side. While his white-ball performance wasn’t up to the mark since last a year, he hasn’t done justice in the red-ball this year as well.
The right-hander has an average of just 20 in the Tests this year and has scored just 271 runs in 8 innings to go with one fifty and one century. In the first Test against Bangladesh, he failed drastically as he was back in the hut for low totals in both innings.
Rahul was out on a false stroke in the first innings as he chopped on a delivery from a similar bowler and was back in the hut for just 22 runs. He fell into the short ball ploy by Khaled Ahmed, who bowled a proper bouncer that bounced and hurried him on the pull shot in the second innings.
The batter got a top edge towards fine leg, where Taijul took a good catch to send the India skipper packing for 24 runs off 70 balls. With Shubman Gill scoring a century and Rohit Sharma most likely to be back for the second game, clouds might be hovering over Rahul’s place.
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
Wasim Jaffer feels that as batter KL Rahul needs to step up his game and turn up as a batsman. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, he said:
“As a batsman, he needs to do a lot of things right. The way he’s batting, he needs to step up his game a little bit. Lately, it’s not the old KL Rahul we’ve seen. He needs to turn up as a batsman pretty soon.
Wasim Jaffer says Rohit Sharma might replace KL Rahul for the second Test
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma is likely to be back for the second Test after missing the first Test. However, many speculations are there as to who will he replace when he comes back. With Gill scorning century and Rahul being the best in this format, it remains to be seen who will make way for the skipper.
Jaffer feels that on basis of form KL Rahul might make way for Rohit or India might go with four bowlers. He added: “On the form, it does look like KL is the only one, but I feel that if India is going with five bowlers, then the unfortunate guy would be KL Rahul or they could go with four bowlers. It’s interesting to see who gets dropped in the last Test.”
The second Test between Bangladesh and India will be played on 22nd December in Dhaka.
