Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes that injuries and illnesses have been the major obstacles in KL Rahul’s international cricket career. The 31-year-old cricketer will miss the second test in Vizag due to pain in his right quadriceps.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Rahul and Jadeja are not available for selection for the series’ second test in Visakhapatnam. Rahul has been ruled out of the game due to soreness in his right quadriceps, and Jadeja has torn his hamstring while being run out by Ben Stokes.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra expressed his opinion that KL Rahul’s repeated injuries have been his main concern over the years and believes that Rahul has been kept out of the game even when he is fully healthy but suffering from dengue or COVID. The cricketer-turned-commentator is of the view that the Karnataka batter could be a big miss for the team in the second test, especially after the way he played in the first test.
“This has been the biggest problem in KL Rahul’s career. Injuries or illnesses have come at the wrong time and they have come many a time. When you feel everything is gone fine – injury, dengue, or COVID – something or the other goes wrong with him. I feel Rahu is sitting in his kundali.”
“The way he played in the first innings, and to be fair, he was batting assuredly in the second innings as well. There are very few people in our team who play the sweep. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul play the sweep, and KL Rahul will now not be there in this game,” Aakash Chopra said.
KL Rahul scored 86 runs in the first innings of the series opener before falling to Rehan Ahmed at deep midwicket off Tom Hartley’s bowling. The Karnataka batter appeared at ease at the crease during his 22-run performance in the second innings, but Joe Root caught him in front of the wickets.
You Can Go Towards Sarfaraz Khan Because He Can Play In An Unorthodox Fashion – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra feels that India could be left with the option of replacing KL Rahul with Sarfaraz Khan or Rajat Patidar, who will be available to the team selection, and reckons that the team management could go with Sarfaraz Khan as he has got unorthodox way of playing shots in red-ball cricket.
“Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar are available with this team. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Virat Kohli are still not there. They will have to play either Rajat Patidar or Sarfaraz. You can go towards Sarfaraz because he can play in an unorthodox fashion and is a very good player of spin,” Aakash Chopra added.
Sarfaraz Khan has been scoring runs for fun in domestic cricket, and his omission in recent years has raised some concerns. The Mumbai-born batter after years of grind in domestic cricket has made it into the Indian Test squad and would be keen on performing for the team at the highest level.
