"What if you ignore Sachin paaji's centuries and check how many ducks he scored?" - Aakash Chopra questions Venkatesh Prasad's criticism of KL Rahul
Aakash Chopra has lambasted Venkatesh Prasad for his criticism of KL Rahul, highlighting that the former Indian seamer didn't use the proper numbers to justify his point.
Rahul has endured three failures in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia. Prasad repeatedly questioned the Karnataka opener's inclusion in India's Test side through social media posts during and after the recently concluded second Test in Delhi.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra highlighted that Prasad has used the wrong criteria to substantiate his point, stating:
"He (Prasad) has said that KL Rahul's overseas record is absolutely ordinary. He asked us to ignore the overseas centuries and said that he hasn't scored runs other than that. I am saying what if you ignore Sachin paaji's (Tendulkar) centuries and check how many ducks he scored? Then it would be slightly wrong."
The former Indian opener pointed out that Rahul's numbers in SENA countries (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia) in the last two years are second only to Rohit Sharma, observing:
"I feel if you are seeing stats, see them fully and try to justify them properly. Let's see the last three years, because three years is a big sample size, let's not talk about what happened as a kid. If we see his record in SENA countries since 20th Feb 2021, his average is only after Rohit Sharma."
Chopra added that Rahul scored a century and a half-century in each of India's last two away series in England and South Africa, where most other visiting batters did not have a great time.
"KL Rahul's numbers are not looking as bad as he is suggesting" - Aakash Chopra
Chopra added that Rahul has outperformed most Indian batters in SENA countries over the last three years, stating:
"If we make it three years instead of two, Rohit Sharma's average (43) is again best. There also KL Rahul is at No. 2 - he has an average of 39, and then Rishabh Pant (38) and Shubman Gill (35). Virat Kohli has an average of 27 in this list. KL Rahul's numbers are not looking as bad as he is suggesting."
The reputed commentator questioned if just three failures at home should attract that much criticism, elaborating:
"In the last three years, the only matches he has played at home is the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He hasn't played anything else. If someone has played only three innings at home in the last three years, is it right to start a Twitter tirade if a guy gets out in one innings?"
There is a view that KL Rahul has an outstanding overseas Test record. But stats speak otherwise. He has a test avg of 30 overseas in 56 innings. He has scored 6 overseas centuries but followed it up with a string of low scores that’s why averaging 30. Let’s look at a few others https://t.co/MAvHM01TcY
Chopra acknowledged that Rahul performed poorly in the away Tests against Bangladesh last year. However, he pointed out that Prasad did not refer to those numbers at all while making his point.