Ex-India Captain Fumes At KL Rahul For Trying To Help Shubman Gill

India’s former captain, Sunil Gavaskar, was not delighted with KL Rahul’s short innings. He felt that the Bengaluru-born attempted the short to help his partner, Shubman Gill, reach a century during the opening ODI of the three-match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.

There were questions on Rahul’s knocks too, as he struggled during the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka last year. He could not bat against the spinners of the Lankan side as the spinners exposed him brutally.

KL Rahul’s recent roller-coaster journey for India

KL Rahul returned to the red-ball format during a two-match home series against Bangladesh. He scored a half-century during the lone innings of the second Test at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur. But his poor form saw the Indian management dropping him for the last two Tests of the three-match series against New Zealand at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

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Rohit Sharma’s absence in the opening Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth saw Rahul opening the batting with Yashasvi Jaiswal. His supreme and stable half-century helped him retain his opening position for the entire trip, as Rohit batted in the middle order.

But despite a great start with the bat, the right-handed opener failed to do justice, finishing as the fifth leading run-getter with 276 runs in 10 innings at an average of 30.66 and a strike rate of 50, shouldering one two fifties at the best score of 84.

KL Rahul’s suffocated 2-run knock in Nagpur ODI

India struggled badly during their 249-run chase in Nagpur. Shreyas Iyer displayed some aggressive shots to pull the momentum back. The middle-order batter drilled 59 runs in 36 deliveries at a strike rate of 163.89, with the help of two over boundaries and nine boundaries.

Shubman Gill found rhythm for his 87 runs in 96 deliveries, with the help of 14 boundaries at a strike rate of more than 90. Axar Patel was promoted at number five by the management, as Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, addressed that the plan was to keep a left-handed batter in the middle order to tackle the spinners. But that put a little pressure on Gill, who was on his road to celebrate the century.

Axar creamed 52 runs in just 47 deliveries, with the help of six boundaries and one six at a strike rate of 110.64. After his dismissal, KL Rahul walked at number six and decided to help his partner in getting to the century.

Sunil Gavaskar blames KL Rahul’s approach

After getting two singles on the first four balls, the Karnataka batter defended the last two balls of the 35th over. After getting the strike rate against Adil Rashid, he shut down his shots completely and made hardly any attempt to move the scoreboard.

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India’s former captain, Sunil Gavaskar, addressed that Rahul wasn’t playing his natural game just to push Gill for the hundred. The 32-year-old ended up chipping it back to the bowler, as Gavaskar did not attempt to hide his criticism.

“He should play his natural game. He is prodding to make sure his partner has a chance of getting a hundred. And Look what happened. This is exactly, what I was talking about. This is a team game; you don't have to do that. He was looking to tap the ball to help his partner get to a century. It was a half-hearted shot.” The former Indian opener expressed on commentary.

Finally, the blue brigade reached the target with four wickets in hand and more than 10 overs to spare.