KL Rahul
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announcement for the third and the fourth Test against the Australian squad didn’t see a change in the terms of players, however, a big difference was spotted in terms of the designation of KL Rahul.
The Indian batter, KL Rahul who has been facing a poor run of form, ‘no longer’ the tag of ‘vice captain’ in front of his name in the board’s squad announcement. The decision has left fans scratching their heads, wondering if the opening batter has lost his post.
A fall in Rahul’s performance
In the last seven innings, the Karnataka batter’s sequence of scores has been 22, 23, 10, 2, 20, 17, and 1, and has been the central talking point in the Indian squad that has done fairly well in the two concluded Tests against Australia. With an in-form batter like Shubman Gill warming the bench, pressure is mounting on the Indian team management to find a solution.
Taking notes from Rahul’s performance in the Test series, the board seems to have decided to demote him from the vice-captain’s post.
All power to Rohit Sharma
According to the reports, the BCCI has given captain Rohit Sharma the power to appoint his deputy for the IND Vs AUS Test series.
Speaking to the media, a source said, “It was decided not to name any vice-captain. Instead, the power was given to Rohit Sharma. Who will lead the side in case he has to leave the field is Rohit Sharma’s call.”
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Indian squad for 3rd & 4th test match against Australia:
Rohit Sharma (Captain), K L Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
‘Full support to Rahul’
After the conclusion of the second Test, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid were asked about KL Rahul’s performance during the matches.
While responding to the media about the batter, Rohit continued to lend his full support to Rahul. The Indian captain also admitted that the opening batter needs to learn how to play on spin-friendly surfaces.
Also, the head coach, David felt that all Rahul needs to do is ‘trust the process.’
