"For how many Tests should India play with nine wickets?” – Fans react as KL Rahul fails to deliver yet again in Bangladesh Tests
Stand-in India captain KL Rahul has once again failed to deliver against Bangladesh in the ongoing two-Test series. He departed for just two runs while chasing a target of 145 in the second innings of the Dhaka Test on Saturday. The right-hander was caught by Nurul Hasan behind the stumps off Shakib Al Hasan's bowling, as India lost their first wicket with just three runs on the scoreboard.
Rahul previously scored 22, 23, and 10 runs in the previous three innings against the hosts in the ongoing Test series. In 2022, the 30-year-old has scored 137 runs in four Tests at an average of 17.12. His only half-century came against South Africa in January 2022.
Fans were angry after witnessing another failure from KL Rahul in Bangladesh. They want the BCCI to move on from the opener, while some asked him to retire from the format altogether.
Here’s a compilation of some of the best Twitter reactions:
@RishikeshViews For how many tests should India play with nine wickets.
Kl Rahul should himself come out of team as BCCI is not willing to bench him
@CricCrazyJohns Don’t understand how and why KL Rahul is backed up so much by BCCI. Don’t remember a single innings against top class teams or icc events or at crunch situations.
@OfficialBCCI @JayShah what secrets does @klrahul know of you that he keeps getting chances.
Pathetic player and disgusting selection.
Shame.
Huge and cheap politics.
Kl Rahul India Ka Babar Azam Hai
#Klrahul
KL Rahul in the Indian team https://t.co/hufzisAVCY
@BCCI Aur kitna chance @klrahul ko milega? https://t.co/LfeaWEYyaz
KL Rahul is giving other players a chance to play. What a captain!
@CricCrazyJohns Retire @klrahul even garbage is more useful than u
@ICC @klrahul thank you for a usless career .
Please retire 🙏
Make way for real player.
A confused player
An IPL performer
@klrahul
You get enough chance man, please take rest
#INDvsBAN
Even Kl Rahul does not know why he is in playing XI !!! #INDvsBAN https://t.co/2MfH1odgZg
@meme_ki_diwani #KLRahul
=The biggest Fraud
#BANvIND https://t.co/tq5POrY6EL
Rahul’s failures have put a question mark on his place in the playing XI for the upcoming four Tests against Australia in February-March at home.
Regular captain Rohit Sharma will make his comeback after recovering from his thumb injury. In his absence, Shubman Gill scored a century in the opening Test.
Bangladesh set KL Rahul and Co. a target of 145 runs to win the series 2-0
The KL Rahul-led Team India have been set a target of 145 runs to win the series 2-0 and boost their chances of a top-two finish in the World Test Championship table.
The visitors had won the previous Test in Chattogram by 188 runs. Team India were 29/3 in the ongoing Test at the time of writing, with Virat Kohli and Axar Patel at the crease. Besides Rahul, Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara also departed for just seven and six runs, respectively.
Meanwhile, a clinical bowling performance helped India bundle Bangladesh out for 231 runs in their second innings. Axar Patel emerged as the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Mohammed Siraj and Ravichandran Ashwin bagged two wickets each. Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav shared a wicket apiece.
Litton Das top-scored for Bangladesh with 73 runs, while Zakir Hasan shone with a half-century.