India may have a healthy, unassailable 2-0 lead over Australia in the ongoing four-match Test series which means they will retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy but they have a bigger goal in mind – to qualify for the final of the ICC World Test Championship. For that, Rohit Sharma and Co will have to beat their opponents 3-1 or 4-0 meaning they cannot afford to put a foot wrong should another shot at winning world championship be their goal.
It’s been the spinners who are majorly responsible for putting India in a dominant position but the performance hasn’t masked the consistent failure of their top-order batters, especially that of KL Rahul who hasn’t scored a fifty in 10 innings now with 23 being his highest score during this phase. With an in-form batter Shubman Gill waiting on the bench, pressure was sky-high on Rahul to perform but form and luck have evaded him meaning the team management dropped him for the Indore Test.
Also Read: Harbhajan Points Out What Went Wrong For India Spinners on Day 1
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has called Rahul an ‘extremely gifted player’ and suggested India captain Rohit Sharma can continue to back him considering the team is not losing at the moment.
“I really like KL Rahul. He is a great young man and an extremely gifted player. India is winning at the moment so if I was the captain, I would be fighting for him. I would be saying, ‘We are winning, I know he is not at his best but we can afford to keep him in the team right now. He is a good player, he will train hard enough and he is going to come back for us’,” Clarke told RevSportz.
“If the team is winning I think he can be keeping players that aren’t performing for a little bit longer. So I will be fighting for KL Rahul,” he added.
Rahul suffered an unfortunate dismissal during the second innings in Delhi when he whipped one away from Nathan Lyon but the ball lobbed up after hitting the fielder at forward short leg for a simple catch to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
“I felt so sorry for him the way he got out. Sometimes when it rains, it pours. You look around the field when batting and it feels like there are 20 fielders. Other times it doesn’t matter, every time you hit it, seems to go into a gap,” Clarke said.
Also Read – India vs Australia: India Collapse While Navigating Indore’s Minefield
“That is what form is about. Over a long period of time, your best players find a way through it. If India feel Rahul is going to be one of their best players, you have got to keep the faith. Of course it is mental, you just need a little bit of luck. That ball that you nick goes to the keeper, just a bit wider, it goes for four. Or that one that he hit into the bat pad and got caught, that could go for a one or two. Just some luck along the way. I think Rahul is a super player,” he added.
Get the latest Cricket News here
Comments
0 comment