“India is in panic mode”, Sanjay Manjrekar strictly warns Indian team management of playing KL Rahul in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25
Sanjay Manjrekar wanted the team management to end their obsession with playing KL Rahul in the team and look for new players.
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Sanjay Manjrekar, KL rahul (Via X)
Team India is currently in the headlines after they suffered a 3-0 whitewash at home in the Test series against New Zealand. This was their first Test series defeat at home since 2012 and also the first time they suffered a Test series whitewash on their home soil since they started playing Test cricket. There are many comments that are being made by several experts and former India player, Sanjay Manjrekar, has asserted that Team India should move away from KL Rahul.
Manjrekar feels that India has ‘panicked’ after what happened against New Zealand and they are anxious ahead of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He also wants the team management to end their obsession of playing Rahul in the team and look for new players who can better perform in that spot.
Clearly, India is in panic mode. They are a bit shaken by what happened against New Zealand at home. And that’s when plans start to go awry. And that is where I believe that one has to actually look at it in a different way, where you think there’s nothing to lose here. So that is the time when you go back and do the right thing. And play players who deserve to get a chance. KL Rahul. You know, I don’t know, there’s some fascination that the team management, selectors have for him that they just want him part of the playing 11, whether it’s at the top or down the order.
Sanjay Manjrekar said to ESPNCricinfo
Rahul had been under-performing in the longest format of the game and was dropped after the first Test match of the series against New Zealand. He has been batting in the middle order in Tests for quite some time.
The Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, has mentioned that they don’t want to change the position of Rahul in their Test team. However, with Sharma set to be out of the first Test in Perth due to personal reasons, Rahul was sent to Australia ahead of the series to play for India A and batted in the opening position. He failed to get going in that position as well.
KL Rahul maintains an average of 33.87 after 91 innings in Test cricket
Rahul has played 53 Test matches and 91 innings so far in Test cricket, where he has scored 2,981 runs at an average of 33.87. This comes from a tally of eight centuries and 15 half-centuries.
The said average can be considered dismal after playing that many number of innings in Test cricket. KL Rahul, despite his potential and talent, hasn’t been able to score consistently in Test cricket for some time to cement his spot in the team.
Manjrekar feels that the team management is hell-bent on playing Rahul given that Abhimanyu Easwaran has not impressed them much with his recent scores for India A. However, he mentioned that the team needs to give Easwaran chances first in the main series and who knows, he could even surpass expectations on the big stage, given his tally in domestic cricket.
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Rohit Sarkar
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