According to former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth, it is unjust to force KL Rahul down the order despite Axar Patel’s run-scoring ability and regrettable that he has not been able to bat at his No. 5 position. In the ODI series against England, Rahul has so far been picked above Rishabh Pant, but he did not bat in the best position.
In order to have the left-right combination on the crease in the 2024 ODI series against Sri Lanka, Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube were put over Rahul, pushing him down the order. Srikkanth has criticized the Gautam Gambhir-led team management, claiming that Rahul’s circumstances are unfair to him despite his success at number five.
His presence at number five in the batting order has frequently prevented India from suffering setbacks following a top-order error. In 30 innings, he has amassed 1259 runs at an average of 57.2. In addition, he has nine fifties and two hundreds. In fact, KL Rahul (57.2 in 30 innings) is only surpassed by the great AB de Villiers as the player with the highest average in ODI cricket history when batting at number five.
“KL Rahul Is Very Unfortunate” – Kris Srikkanth
Kris Srikkanth is not happy with KL Rahul’s shuffle in the Indian batting order.
“Shreyas Iyer is in good form, which is a positive for India. But I feel for KL Rahul, it’s very unfortunate. Yes, Axar Patel is scoring 30s and 40s, but what they are doing with KL Rahul is not fair. Look at his record, he has excelled at No. 5, with a brilliant record,” Srikkanth said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
Axar Patel, who got promoted to No. 5 in the two ODIs, played brilliant innings and scored important 52 and 41 to justify the promotion.