Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at KL Rahul after another failure

After another failure from KL Rahul, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar wants the opener to be dropped from the Indian Test team if he fails to perform in the second innings at Adelaide. The former opener lashed out at Rahul, who was dismissed cheaply on day one after India won the toss and elected to bat first.

“KL Rahul should be dropped from playing XI if he fails to score in second innings. Because he has no more self-confidence left in him. There was a time when he was a very confident player, but now he doesn’t look so. There is a tentativeness, a certainty in him about the ball outside the off stump, about his shots, he plays it across the line as well. He has not bothered to correct the faults in his techniques," Gavaskar told Aaj Tak.

Before adding, “When you shuffle from leg stump to leg stump, you know the placement of the stump, but when a tall batsman like him shuffles towards off stump off his backfoot then the front foot will go a lot outside the off stump and then you play the shot outside the off stump you are liable to get out at slip. He had made this mistake in England and he making the same mistake now as well and only he knows why is he doing it”.

KL Rahul has played 11 Tests this year and no Indian batsman has played more than him. Despite that and the long rope that he has been given, he has scored just 422 runs at an average of 23.44 with a solitary century and fifty to his name.

Aside from the fifty against Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Bengaluru and his 149 at The Oval in the final Test against England, Rahul has been unable to get going. In the 19 innings that he has played this year, he has got past 20 on just six occasions.

He was doubtful to play the first Test against Australia considering his recent form but Prithvi Shaw's injury meant that he opened the innings at Adelaide along with Murali Vijay and it was another disappointment as he was dismissed for just 2.