One of the most sub-plots for the third Test between India and Australia is who partners Rohit Sharma at the top of the batting order. Despite his string of low scores, India have continued reposing their faith in KL Rahul despite the growing voices of critics questioning the decision to stick with the struggling opener.
Critics argue that since India have plenty of options and none better than the in-form Shubman Gill, why then the need to persist with KL Rahul?
Captain Rohit, head coach Rahul Dravid and the Indian team management in general have thrown their weight behind the 30-year-old but it will become hard for them to keep justifying his inclusion in the playing eleven unless he responds with a big score.
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An indication that the team might have started heading in a different direction came when the squad for the remaining two Tests was announced. While there was no change in personals but the absence of the tag of ‘vice-captain’ against Rahul’s name was quite interesting.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra though feels that the time to drop Rahul has come and that Gill would be in his playing XI for the third Test in Indore that starts from Wednesday.
“The probable eleven will be Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, KS Bharat Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami. For the eleventh member, it can be Shubman Gill, because we have to mention his brilliant form in Test matches. He has also made runs against Bangladesh in those matches,” Chopra said on JioCinema’s daily sports show AakashVani.
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Chopra reckons that removing Rahul as vice-captain basically means he’s no immune from being benched anymore. “When the announcements came KL Rahul has been removed from the Test Vice Captain position, which is basically telling the world that since you are not the vice-captain, you can be dropped, so there might be a change in that part,” he said.
He continued, “Although Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma both have backed up Rahul’s talent, Rohit also found himself in that position where he was backed up by the team in 2012 or something, and now we know how well he has played since then. So, they want to invest that much in Rahul as well, but the time has come that Rahul won’t be part of the team and Shubman Gill will replace him, as I think, so I wish Shubman Gill well. It is a good time to score runs if we look at it from the Indian perspective.”
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