KL Rahul is going through one of the hardest phases of his cricketing career. The Indian batter has constantly been under scrutiny for his inconsistency and lack of runs. Recently, his place in India’s playing XI for the first two Tests against Australia was questioned after he managed scores of 201, 17, and 1 in three innings. As BCCI announced the squads for the remaining two Tests, the vice-captain tag was no more alongside his name which led to the speculations that he might have been removed from the post.
Simultaneously, several former cricketers have constantly opposed Rahul’s place in the team ahead of in-form Shubman Gill. Former Indian fast bowler made some scathing remarks on the batter through long threads of tweets, citing ‘favouritism’ as one of the reasons behind Rahul’s selection despite poor form.
Joining the bandwagon, former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Rashid Latif also lashed out at the Indian opener, saying he does not deserve to be in the Playing XI when Shubman Gill is in the squad.
“Ye (Rahul) deserve hi nahi karte Shubman Gill ke hote hue. Bahaana kuch bhi nahi hai, bas inko khilaana hai. (Rahul doesn’t even deserve a spot in the XI when Shubman Gill is there. There is no excuse here. The management just wants to play him (Rahul),” said Latif while speaking on his YouTube channel.
Shubman Gill has been in sensational form lately across formats. He smashed a hundred against Bangladesh in the Chattogram Test last year and carried the momentum in the Sri Lanka and New Zealand ODIs as well.
He scored a century against Sri Lanka in Thiruvananthapuram and followed it with a double hundred against New Zealand in Hyderabad. He scored another century in the final ODI against the Black Caps in Indore. Almost a week later, he broke the record for the highest individual score by an Indian in T20Is with an unbeaten knock of 126 off 63 balls against New Zealand.
As speculated, the youngster might return to the playing XI for the Indore Test, starting March 1. India are currently leading the 4-match series 2-0 and have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the third time in a row.
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