India’s performance in Test cricket this year was better compared to how they fared in white-ball cricket in ICC/multi-team events. But the form of KL Rahul continues to be a concern.
There’s a possibility that Rahul will not be included in the Indian squad for the home series against Sri Lanka, at least not for the T20I leg. But for the four home Tests against a formidable Australian team, the new selection committee, which is expected to come into effect by then, has to take a call on whether to give Rahul another chance or consider someone else.
Like Rahul, Kohli’s lean patch in Tests has also continued even though the former captain has been able to score important runs in some limited-overs matches this year, including a century each in T20Is and ODIs.
On his part though, Rahul believes his struggle is because of the “tight schedule”, particularly for those players who are part of all three formats. “When you play all three formats, it’s a bit tricky to jump from one format to another. Personally, it takes a bit of time to get back into the groove and understand, to get your mind back to what you were doing right,” the stand-in captain said at a news conference, after India’s three-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second and final Test in Mirpur.
Rahul aggregated just 57 in this Bangladesh series. The highest he could score in his last eight Test innings was only 50. “Each format is a challenge on how quickly you can adapt. It’s a challenge that excites me.
“Obviously, my performance in this series was not great. I can accept that. I tried my best and it didn’t work. I can look forward and see what I can do better next time.
“Unfortunately, our schedules are too tight for some of us who play all formats. But that’s the challenge for us. Ideally, we would have wanted a lot more time between red-ball and white-ball cricket to get used to and get our mind back to play the longest version,” Rahul tried to explain.
Dropping Kuldeep
The Indian team management was severely criticised for benching Kuldeep Yadav — Man of the Match in the first Test — in Mirpur. Having “no regret” about such a call, Rahul went on to say that he would have “loved to bring Kuldeep in the second innings” if the Impact Player rule — to be introduced in IPL 2023 — was there in this Test.
“I don’t regret the decision (to drop Kuldeep). It was the right decision. But yeah, it was really a tough call, knowing that Kuldeep won us the last Test. Had the Impact Player rule been there, like in the IPL, I would’ve definitely loved to bring Kuldeep in the second innings,” Rahul said.