"I am more than happy to do that" - KL Rahul tight-lipped about India's middle-order muddle ahead of BGT

India vice-captain KL Rahul hinted that both he and Shubman Gill are open to manning the middle order in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The four-Test series commences on Thursday at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur.

Two days out from the all-important assignment, India’s beleaguered middle order cuts a sorry image. The dynamic Suryakumar Yadav and wicketkeeper-batters Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat are all in the reckoning to get the coveted Test cap. Another possibility is to push a regular opener – KL Rahul or Shubman Gill – down the order.

“If it arises, I am more than happy to do that. Whatever little cricket I have played for the country, I have always done whatever the team has asked me to do. I try and prepare that way, I try and do the best for the team. And if that is something the team wants me to do here, I’ll be more than happy to do that,” KL Rahul said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

Interestingly, Rahul's first Test innings came at No. 6 in the 2013-14 Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under. The 30-year-old has grown into becoming a dependable No. 5 in ODIs as well.

While Rishabh Pant (recovering from a near-fatal car crash) is out for a long time, Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the first match with a back injury. Asked about Gill, KL Rahul left it open-ended, saying that the final call will be taken on the morning of the game.

“We still haven’t decided on the final playing XI. There’s still a couple of days left for the game to start. But all I can say is, it’s going to be a really, really tough decision. There are guys who performed exceedingly well and there are a few spots open. So yes, there are a few discussions going on and the players have been spoken to and, whoever’s going to play, will definitely know what their role is. We’ll have to wait for Day 1 of the Test match, till the toss, to find out what the XI is,” he said.

Even then, Rahul Dravid has to choose between Kishan and Bharat for wicketkeeping duties. While the Jharkhand lad will be a like-for-like substitution for Pant, the latter is being hailed as the one with the better glovework.

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"There will be a temptation to play three spinners" - KL Rahul

Team India undergo rigorous training sessions in Nagpur [Credits: BCCI]

The ongoing din around the pitches for the series refuses to die down. While cricket lovers want the matches to last five days each, several experts are expecting rank turners.

Echoing similar sentiments, KL Rahul didn’t shoot down the possibility of India going in with three spinners.

“We did see it [the pitch], but I think it’s too early to really know what the pitch is going to do. We will still have to come here on the day of the game and only then we can only look at it and assume it’s going to play a certain play, but you never know what the pitch is. So yeah, there will be a temptation to play three spinners. Because we are playing in India and there’s no surprise the pitches are all going to spin,” KL Rahul exclaimed.

His comments, however, came with a rider. Recalling how the team drew flak recently for benching Player of the Match Kuldeep Yadav, he said the playing XI is drawn up based on what’s best for that particular match rather than the best group of players.

“The playing XI, we obviously try to make a decision based on what is best for the team and that particular Test match. We have done that in the last few years as well. There have been questions raised previously about why a certain player is played.

"Even in Bangladesh, I remember Kuldeep got Player of the Match and there were so many questions about why he didn’t play the next Test match. Obviously the only thinking behind such decisions is to see what is the best XI in those particular conditions…You can play for 20-30 years of the game, and even after you retire, there’s nobody who can look at the pitch and say this is exactly what’s going to happen,” KL Rahul concluded.

The last time the two sides played a Test in Nagpur, back in 2004, spinners accounted for 12 of the 20 wickets as Australia thrashed India by a whopping 342 runs.