India competed against Bangladesh in the second ODI on December 7, Wednesday and the Bangla Tigers eventually won the match by 5 runs despite a fightback from the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. To add more, chasing a target of 272, India opened with Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli as Rohit walked off in the initial innings due to a thumb injury.
Although Rohit came in at Number 9 and scored an unbeaten 51, the Men in Blue were short of the target and eventually lost the series. Salman Butt, the former Pakistani cricketer, opened up on the same and said that KL Rahul must have opened the innings for team India in the absence of their skipper.
Citing Kumar Sangakkara and Adam Gilchrist as examples, Butt questioned if Rahul was unfit to open the innings. Notably, the right-handed batter has been the preferred opener for team India in the shortest format of the game, although one has to agree that the batter has received a lot of criticism for his conservative approach.
It’s very weird: Salman Butt
The former Pakistani cricketer went on to slam the wicketkeeper and claimed that playing him as an opener would have made a significant impact on team India’s game. Further, Butt highlighted India’s negatives and said that the team must address the concerns at the earliest.
“Rohit Sharma ko injury hui, toh obviously Virat Kohli ne open kiya. Aapke paas KL Rahul regular opener hain, vo kyun nahi gaye open karne? (Rohit Sharma got injured and Virat Kohli opened. But you have a regular opener in KL Rahul, why did he not open?)” Butt was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.
“Ispe behes ye hogi ki unhone wicketkeeping ki hui thi. Duniya me bohot saare players hain jo wicketkeeping ke saath open karte hain. Adam Gilchrist karte hain, Kumar Sangakkara karte rahe, Quinton de Kock karte hain, kya ye utne fit nahi hain? Ajeeb si baat hai. (Some will argue that Rahul had kept wickets, but there have been a lot of players who have opened for the side after keeping wickets, like Gilchrist, Sangakkara and Quinton de Kock. Is Rahul not as fit as them? It’s very weird),” he added.
