3 reasons why KL Rahul opening in India 'A' clash vs Australia 'A' is the wrong move
The Indian team management made the strange decision of asking KL Rahul to open the innings for India A in their second unofficial Test against Australia A at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday, November 7.
Having not played regular cricket since the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru, Rahul struggled to find his feet and nicked one behind to wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson off Scott Boland.
Although other Test hopefuls Sai Sudharsan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhimanyu Easwaran also struggled, Rahul's poor show brought to light the great distance to which the management is going to accommodate him in the senior side.
All said and done, however, this move may not be the right one for Rahul at this stage of his career, and may end up causing more harm than good. Of course, we hope he proves us wrong and puts up a good showing in the second innings.
In this listicle, we take a look at three reasons why Rahul opening for India A is perhaps not the right move:
#1 He is not a prospective opener for India
Rahul is not being seen as a prospective opener by the Indian team management, and his doing so for India A does not seem to serve any particular purpose. Given that he is trying his best to come back into the playing XI of the Test side, it does not make sense for him to open here.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma are the openers for India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and even if one of them is not available, specialist opener Abhimanyu Easwaran has been picked in the side. Rahul does not fit anywhere into the selectors' plans as an opener currently.
#2 He can use the opportunity to play in the middle-order
If Rahul does want to use his time productively for India A, he ought to play in the middle-order, where he is most probably going to fit in for the senior team as well. He can use this time to hone his skill coming in at three or four wickets down.
Although the Mangalorean has been a top-order batter all his life, he knows all too well that batting in the middle order is an entirely different beast. To walk in to bat when bowlers are in full rhythm is not an easy task.
That said, the 32-year-old got the golden opportunity to play in Australia ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He can use the time to play in the middle-order and try to work his innings into a rhythm the game is following.
#3 It might dent his confidence
As mentioned earlier, Rahul has not been a part of the India selectors as a top-order batter for quite some time now. He has only been playing in the middle-order when the ball gets old and the bowlers and fielders tire a bit.
Playing against the new ball all of a sudden may be challenging and dent Rahul's confidence. This happened in the second unofficial Test against Australia A where he got out to pacer Scott Boland after scoring a mere four runs as an opener in the first dig.
He was dropped after scores of 0 and 12 in the middle order in the first Test against New Zealand earlier this year and then found himself thrown into the lion's den, so to speak, against Boland and Co.
Getting your feet to move quickly is a challenge against the new ball, and Rahul may have felt it too. The 68 he scored against a hapless Bangladesh attack in Kanpur earlier this year came while he was batting at number 6.