Is KL Rahul's ODI future in dark?
People who saw a young KL Rahul from Bangalore bat in his 2nd ever Test match Down Under in 2014 where he scored a brilliant 'Test Hundred', would have been amazed by his performance in this year's IPL. The young man was compared to another Rahul from Bangalore after his knock in Sydney against Australia in which he showed excellent defensive skills and unflappable temperament.
But this specialist Test batsman was now stroking fast bowlers over extra cover for fun in the IPL. KL Rahul's transition from a conventional Test batsman to one of the finest limited overs batsmen has been phenomenal.
He has been in and around the ODI team for some period of time now after making his debut against Zimbabwe in 2016. But after the kind of form that he showed in IPL 2018, his place in the ODI side was certain. Picked by the selectors for England series he was slotted to bat at No.4. However, he once again failed to grab his opportunity on International arena.
India experimented with him at different places from opening the batting to No.4 in the middle order, but the batsman couldn't buy any of these positions. In his most recent outing in ODIs versus England, slotted to bat at No.4 for the first two matches of the series, he had poor returns which led to his exclusion once again from the playing XI.
His numbers in the ODIs are not impressive considering his ability and skills. He has scored 257 runs at an average of 32.12 and the bulk of these runs are from his Zimbabwe tour where he scored 100, 33 and 66 in three matches that he played
His recent exclusion from the two Asia Cup matches suggests that India is now looking at him as a backup opener. His stats as an opener are better than his overall record, but 3 of those innings are against Zimbabwe.
His omission from the team is not just because of his batting failures but also due to the injuries which have hampered him quite often, hence not allowing him to feature in the team regularly. Considering the kind of talent and strokeplay he is blessed with, the Indian team management should keep him in the mix and he himself would also like to get into this team rather than sitting on the sidelines and waiting for one of the openers to fail or get injured.
KL Rahul's ODI future can be obscure but nowhere near finished. He should keep refining his game and seize the opportunities when thrown at him as there is serious batting talent waiting in the wings to grab a place in this team if anyone fails.
KL Rahul is a player of high pedigree and, It would be unfortunate if he doesn't go on to have a fruitful career for India in ODI format. He should keep trying to somehow sneak into this Indian batting line-up.