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KL Rahul (Source: Twitter)
Team India beat Australia in the first Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 by innings and 132 runs on day 3 of the game. India, playing in Vidarbha Cricket Stadium Nagpur, restricted visitors to 91/10 in their second innings. Earlier, with the help of half-centuries of Axar Patel and allrounder Ravindra Jadeja, India posted a mammoth total of 400 in the first innings.
Although, India has some serious questions to address ahead of the second test starting on 17 February at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, one of the biggest questions will be the form of vice-captain KL Rahul. Rahul, in the Nagpur Test, failed to score runs after playing almost 70 balls in the first innings. Now, Former India bowler Venkatesh Prasad slammed selectors over the selection of Rahul in the team.
Prasad took to Twitter to put out his point on the issue. Prasad believes that Rahul’s selection is not based on performance. “Rahul’s selection is not based on performance but favouritism. Has been consistently inconsistent and for someone who has been around for 8 years not converted potential into performances,” Prasad wrote on Twitter.
Prasad further questioned his performance in Test matches and called it mediocre. “A Test average of 34 after 46 Tests and more than 8 years in international cricket is ordinary. Can’t think of many who have been given so many chances. When there are so many waiting in the wings & top form. Shubhman Gill is in sublime form, Sarfaraz Khan has been scoring tons in FC cricket and many who deserve a chance ahead of Rahul,” he said.
“Someone like Ashwin should be vice-captain”, Says Venkatesh Prasad
Former pacer further advocated for someone like Ravichandran Ashwin to be appointed as Rohit Sharma's deputy in the longest format of the game and went on to name five cricketers in the current Indian setup who might ably fill the job by replacing KL Rahul.
“And to make matters worse, Rahul is the designated vice-captain. Ashwin has a great cricketing brain and should be the vice-captain in the Test format. If not he then it should be Cheteshwar Pujara Ravindra Jadeja. Mayank Agarwal had a far better impact than Rahul in Tests and so did Hanuma Vihari”, said Prasad.