After India’s humiliating batting performance on Day 3 of the first Test in Adelaide, unsurprisingly, some heads were going to roll. One of the players who are most likely to be in India’s squad is KL Rahul.
Rahul is a superstar for India in the shorter formats, but his recall into the Test squad is completely unjustified.
At the end of 21 Tests and the year 2017 coming to an end, Rahul had scored 1428 Test runs at an average of 44.63 with four hundreds and ten fifties. But then everything went horribly wrong for the Karnataka batsman in the Indian whites. Between 2018 and 2019, Rahul scored 578 runs at an average of 22.23, which included a 149 at the Oval.
2019 was such a horrid year for KL Rahul in Test cricket that Ishant Sharma had more Test fifties (one) than Rahul (zero). The writing was clear for Rahul as he would be dropped from the Test team in September 2019. Now how does a dropped player fight their way back into the Indian Test team? By scoring runs in India’s first-class tournament, the Ranji Trophy.
However, there was a slight problem for Rahul. With either Rohit Sharma or Shikhar Dhawan missing Indian white ball series due to injuries, Rahul was playing limited-overs matches for India instead of playing in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy. With Karnataka progressing to the Ranji Trophy semis and Rahul not in the Indian Test squad in New Zealand, he finally got the chance to play red-ball cricket for the first time since September 2019.
Playing against Bengal on a green top at Eden Gardens, Rahul scored 26 and 0 as he looked clueless against the pace and bounce of Ishan Porel. Fast forward to December 2020 and the Ranji Trophy semi-final is the only first-class match Rahul has played since he got dropped from the Indian Test team. Yet somehow, Rahul finds himself back into the Indian Test squad.
To use IPL form as a way to get back into your national team’s Test squad is nothing short of a disgrace to first-class cricket. There are so many players in the Ranji Trophy, giving their all to first-class cricket every season to play Test cricket, only for a bloke who averages below 35 in Test cricket to be recalled based on IPL form.
The BCCI was so busy focusing on the IPL, they could’ve had players not participating in the IPL to play in a mini first-class tournament on grounds such as the ICC Academy grounds in the UAE during the IPL so that players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari were match fit for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Whether Rahul plays in the Boxing Day Test or not, India recalling the Karnataka batsman to the Test has shown Ranji Trophy veterans in Priyank Panchal, Abhinav Mukund and Sheldon Jackson that their runs in first-class cricket hardly mattered. It sets a dangerous precedent in the future to players that their runs in List A tournaments and the IPL will have more relevance for selectors to notice players.
Dear BCCI, don’t make this mistake again. There are plenty of batsmen in India who deserve a Test call up over KL Rahul. Select teams in each format based on their performances in that format, not IPL form for Test cricket. Or else, we’ll be seeing the death of Indian cricket sooner rather than later.
Aj
Guest
We need players who have sound technique, we do not need any flat track bullies so sorry Pridhvi Shaw. A batsmen who knows how to play hook, cut and pull and can be decisive with his footwork against a moving ball coming at 145+ kmph should play. So definitely big name players who have been there and done that make their case. I think Rahul and Rohit should be included in the playing 11. Mayank and Vihari should make way. Im from Andhra by the way. Country comes first and regional biases/soft spots have no place here.
Cricket fan
Roar Rookie
It seems to be a trend to pick a big performing white ball player for tests, due to the belief that "form is form", regardless of the format. E.g. Buttler, Roy, Finch, Imam, Fakhar, Hope. Rahul's case certainly won't be a new one, but all of the listed players flopped and were dropped (except Buttler, who succeeded a couple of times and just held his spot).
Gee
Roar Rookie
Not sure if he plays district cricket but I can remember reading a while back that his wife or girlfriend is from Melbourne and they have a house there.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Played for India A in 2019 January against England Lions. Dropped from Test team in September 2019. Did well to get into ODI Team. Done absolutely nothing to get recalled into Test squad since he got dropped. Neither played any FC games for India A since he got dropped from Test team last year and got severely exposed by Ishan Porel at Eden Gardens.
Coss
Roar Rookie
Good point. Correct me if I am wrong but I believe he plays district cricket in Melbourne.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Easwaran from Bengal was a much better option than Rahul. Granted he had a rough season last season, but excelled for 3 seasons in a row before that. Opens on the toughest wicket at Eden Gardens. Has the technique and temperament to do well in Test cricket. Rumours going on Paddikal's Ranji performances will be monitored as they want to groom him as the backup opener. For MCG this is my XI - Vihari, Agarwal, Pujara, Gill, Rahane, Jadeja, Pant, Ashwin, Umesh, Siraj, Bumrah.Shaw opens on roads in Mumbai. Was always gonna be exposed
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
One fifty in 6 innings in Australia, averaging under 28 in Aus. Needs to play FC cricket, which he doesn't. Dhawans time is up in Tests
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
Easwaran from Bengal was a much better option than Rahul. Granted he had a rough season last season, but excelled for 3 seasons in a row before that. Opens on the toughest wicket at Eden Gardens. Has the technique and temperament to do well in Test cricket. Rumours going on Paddikal's Ranji performances will be monitored as they want to groom him as the backup opener. For MCG this is my XI - Vihari, Agarwal, Pujara, Gill, Rahane, Jadeja, Pant, Ashwin, Umesh, Siraj, Bumrah. Shaw opens on roads in Mumbai. Was always gonna be exposed
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
The problem is that BCCI selectors hardly look outside the big state teams (Mumbai,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi). They mostly ignore players from other states unless they have 5 good ranji seasons in a row. The bigger boys just need one good season and they’re in the team. Problem with Yadav is that he doesn’t play many games for India A in FC games – a prerequisite nowadays for players to excel in as the gap between Ranji and Test cricket is quite a big gap.
Coss
Roar Rookie
Know nothing about Indian domestic cricket but how Dhawan doesn't make the cut is beyond me. He knows how to score runs in Australia and has a lot of knowledge of local conditions.
dev
Guest
whoever this writer is has conveniently and surreptitiously hidden a fact that KL Rahul played List-A series immediately after dropped out of test favor. He was under Dravid for a couple of months, scored good to be recalled in India's ODI team, and subsequently to test. As such, classy players are very difficult even in Indian domestic cricket. KL has got the class, temperament (prime reason for his failure), and more importantly the technique that none of the current Indian batsmen with the exception of Virat Kohli have it in them. Not even the great Rohit (once called as No-hit) Sharma.
CUW
Roar Rookie
Perhaps u need better selectors who understand cricket and not bow to provincial or personal preferences. for eg - P Shaw was a no show in IPL . he was even dropped from the team!!! anyone who has played a bit of text book cricket will see the flaws in his tech , even on those batting friendly pitches in UAE !!! i bet ur selectors looked at the age when selecting these teams - coz there is no reason to drop SUryakumar Yadav other than his advanced age. again anyone who has played a bit of text book cricket will know he had a much better tech against both spinners and pacies - something not common among top 3 batters . coz most top batters struggle against spin - even Rohit struggles against leggies!!! i will rather play Pant - at least he can play pacies better than most
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
I agree that rahul is better as short form player than test like shikhar and rohit. But he has been selected in team. Whom do we choose? Prithvi was supposed to be next prodigy in test cricket. The way he has been exposed at international level makes me worried about the standard of our first class cricket and raises question about reliability of statistics coming out of it.
Raj
Guest
Even Rohit Sharma was bought into test arena based on his white ball form