KL Rahul’s misery in the game’s longest format continued as the recently married India batter got out cheaply in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series in Delhi. Rahul scored just one run in two balls, only to get out in the third after edging Nathan Lyon’s delivery for a sharp catch by wicketkeeper Alex Carry. Notably, Rahul fell leg before to the same bowler in the first innings for another low score of 17 off 41 deliveries.
This has been a continued issue for the Bengaluru boy in the red-ball game. His performance in the first Test of the BGT was similar. He scored 20 runs off 71 balls with just one boundary in his knock before being caught and bowled by the debutant leg-spinnner Todd Murphy. The last time he scored a fifty in Tests was back in January 2022 against South Africa at the Centurion.
KL Rahul has the highest score of 23 in his last seven Test innings
The Test series against the Proteas was his last notable performance. Since then, he has played Tests against Bangladesh and Australia with the highest score of 23 in seven innings. In the limited-overs game, however, Rahul has been better in the recent series against Sri Lanka, scoring handy knocks of 64* and 39.
Reacting to KL Rahul’s miserable Test run, former India speedster Venkatesh Prasad dropped a harsh criticism on Twitter. He wrote, ‘And the torrid run continues. More to do with rigidity of the management to persist with a player who just hasn’t looked the part. No top order batsman in at least last 20 years of Indian cricket has played these many tests with such a low average.’
Aakash Chopra was quick to respond to Prasad’s harsh critique. He quoted Prasad’s tweet and wrote, ‘Venky Bhai, Test match chal raha hai. How about, at least, waiting for both the innings to get over? All of us are in the same team, i.e. Team India. Not asking you to hold back your thoughts, but timing could be a little better. After all, our game is all about the ‘timing.’
Here’s how fans added to this heated debate between two Indian Cricket pundits:
Aakash bhai was a better opener than KL Rahul
— Rahul Tahiliani (@Rahultahiliani9) February 19, 2023
How about changing your DP to KL Rahul? Oh. You won't do that ?
— Vikas Pandey (Sankrityayan) (@MODIfiedVikas) February 19, 2023
Aa gye KL ke bade supporter use back krne…
— sparsh (@isparsh0) February 19, 2023
Indian players have clearly mentioned that they don't listen outside noise. That allows everyone to put thoughts before after during the match.
Timing was perfect. Venky rang the bell just before squad selection for remaining 2 test
BTW we need courageous commentators like venky pic.twitter.com/g7e3V7IiD2— BKL Rahul 0.2 (@BKLrahul_) February 19, 2023
???, ???? ?? ??????? ?????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?? ?? Viacom ?? ?? ???? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???????? ?? ?????? ?? ??, ???? ????? ???? ???? KL ?? ???? ????? ????? ?? ???, ????? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?? BCCI ??? ??? ?????? ???? ????? ??? ???? ??, ??? ?? ????? ???? ?? ??? ????
— Chandra Prakash/?????? ?????? (@Panday_CP) February 19, 2023
"Venky bhai test match abhi chal raha hai. KL sir motivation ke liye roz Twitter khol kar dekhte honge Venki bhai. Aapka criticism dekh kar kahi wo hopeless ho gaye aur fourth innings me 1 run par out ho gaye to desh ka nuksaan ho jayega Venki bhai. Please Venki bhai ruk jao na."
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) February 19, 2023
Aa gaya swad!
— Danish (@DanishKh4n) February 19, 2023
Akash Bhai, when you were out of form for few innings you were kicked out of the team. Though you being a better opening batsman than KL. What would to say now?
— Mr Indian (@MaheshChartered) February 19, 2023
