Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar reckons KL Rahul is not the right choice to start the proceedings for India in the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Perth. The Indian team skipper Rohit Sharma is set to miss the first Test which is slated to take place from November 22. Team India’s management has been backing Rahul to open the innings as he has that experience already. Earlier, Rahul did play for the India A squad in the second unofficial Test against Australia A where he was told to open the innings.
But then, the Karnataka-based batter failed to make an impact with the bat, scoring only 4 and 10 in both the innings.
“It’s not like KL Rahul as an opening option is setting the stage on fire. Going by the reality, KL Rahul currently you can see, you’ve got to feel for him, I love him as a player the kind of talent he has. He looks a bit down on confidence and you don’t want someone like him batting at the top of the order because much of the tempo of the innings is set at the start number 1,2 and 3,” Manjrekar said on ESPNCricinfo.
“I’m going by KL Rahul for the work he’s done down the order and very recently in South Africa. He was batting at number six with a softer Kookaburra ball and if he has to bat with the tailenders, I feel he will be terrific where he’s got the big game as well. So I see KL better used and more chances of KL Rahul adding value to the team at that position,” he added.
India’s Squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R. Ashwin, R. Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.