BCCI team management came to the rescue of KL Rahul, now crying out for century
New Delhi. Lokesh Rahul continues to be in the Indian Test team despite a string of failures, leading to allegations of over-supporting the team management. Even after so many failures in Indian cricket, hardly any player has remained in the team for such a long time, which is quite surprising. The question, therefore, arises whether Rahul has excessive skills or is he being backed excessively. India’s current captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli usually do not have the same opinion on any issue, but the thinking of these two veterans about Rahul is also the same.
When Kohli scored his 71st century in international cricket against Afghanistan during the Asia Cup, in an interview given to Rohit for Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) television, Kohli said, “We should not ignore Rahul’s contribution because We know how important it is for Rahul to be in good shape ahead of the World Cup. We know what he can do in this format, can play big shots very easily and once he bats well in T20 cricket, our team looks even stronger. It seemed to be deliberately favoring him.
Even after six months of this conversation, Rahul failed to impress in seven Test innings. He also had a poor performance in four innings against Bangladesh before three innings in the two Tests against Australia. Three senior figures in the current team management have made similar arguments in defense of Rahul in the last two weeks that he scored hundreds in difficult conditions in England and South Africa. The team’s batting Vikram Rathor had said on the question of ‘PTI-Bhasha’ about Rahul during the Nagpur Test, “To be honest, Rahul has scored two centuries in the last 10 Tests. One of these has come to England and the other to South Africa. He has also scored two half-centuries.
After the second Test match played in Delhi, Indian coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit also gave a similar reaction to this opener. Rohit said, “It is not just about Rahul but it can be the story of any player. If you look at his hundreds abroad, for me those were his best innings. Especially the century innings played at Lord’s. After losing the toss, after getting the invitation to bat first, he scored a century on a pitch helpful to the fast bowlers. it was not easy. He played a similar innings in Sechurian and the team won both the matches. Dravid also reiterated the captain’s words.
Earlier, when Ravi Shastri was the team coach and Sanjay Bangar the batting coach, Rahul was backed even in a Kohli-led team. Talking about the record, Rahul averages just 33.44 runs in 47 Test matches. Due to being given opportunities, talented youngster Shubman Gill, who is running in excellent rhythm, has to sit out of the playing XI. If compared to openers Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal, who have played Test matches for the Indian team in the last five years, here too Rahul will be seen lagging behind both. Rahul has 81 Test innings to his credit and has crossed the 50-run mark only 20 times, including seven hundreds and 13 half-centuries.
Mayank Agarwal has 36 Test innings and 10 50-plus innings, including four centuries and six half-centuries. Dhawan has crossed the 50-run mark 12 times in 58 innings. He has scored seven centuries and five half-centuries. It is worth noting that Dhawan and Mayank, who played their last Test in 2018, were dropped from the Test team after a poor performance in four consecutive Tests.
