It was not the best of the days for India with the bat at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi as a fierce Nathan Lyon ran through the top order before Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin came to the rescue to put Australia ahead on day 2 of the second test of the Border- Gavaskar Trophy 2023.
The top 5 combined scored 97 runs chasing Australia’s lead of 263 runs. However, the bale of criticism has once again fallen on the shoulders of India’s vice-captain after KL Rahul was sent back to the pavilion on 17 runs by Australia’s star spinner Nathan Lyon.
“Why KL Rahul looks tentative”- Gavaskar
Voicing the already looming controversy over his place in the playing XI. The legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar highlighted Rahul’s problem with the bat.
“He doesn’t know whether to go back or come forward. With KL Rahul, he takes his front foot across and the ball is turning into you, you have to play with a straight bat but when you take your front foot across like that you are left with no choice but to play with an angled bat. The chances of you missing the ball are more.” said Sunil Gavaskar.
“Rohit takes the front foot away, so he allows the bat to come around and play the ball in front of the pad. That’s why you see Rohit Sharma look so secure and why Rahul looks tentative.” he added.
A period of dawn
As for the talented batter, the longest format has seen a dip in the past year after a strong return in the England series and a strong performance in South Africa. Since 2022, the opener’s Test average has been just 17.4, the lowest of any Indian batter in the top 7.
KL Rahul last recorded a Test century in December 2021 at Centurion whilst playing South Africa, since then he also has the second-lowest average in Tests among all starting batters. As far as the management is concerned, the team is showing confidence in the star batter owing to his previous performances in the difficult conditions. Will he able to silence the outside noises or will the cacophony continue to grow?