IND VS AUS: India is leading the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023, by 2-0 against Australia, Men in Blue will be gearing up for the third test match at Indore on 1st March, KL Rahul’s Vice Captain (VC) tag has been removed from the squad announced for the last two test match. Rahul failure in the longer format of the game has been a big concern for team India in selecting the playing XI for BGT.
Aakash Chopra thinks that Rohit Sharma’s support for his fellow opener comes with his own struggles in the past, the current Indian skipper started to open the innings for team India in 2019, while Rohit made his debut for India in test matches in 2013.
Chopra believes Rahul’s VC tag has been removed to hint star Indian opener can be dropped-
“KL Rahul has been removed from the post of vice-captain. It’s a green signal that the player can be dropped. It’s not that vice-captains have not been dropped,”
“I remember Ajinkya Rahane was dropped in South Africa when he was the vice-captain during Virat Kohli’s tenure as leader,” said former Indian opener.
Rahane was dropped from the test squad after the Men in Blue got defeated in South Africa in January 2022. The 34-year-old played 82 longer formats of the game for India and scored runs with an average of 38.52 before getting axed from the team.
5 Best Test Innings of Rohit Sharma as an opener
1. 212 v SA at Ranchi, 2019
2. 176 v SA at Vizag, 2019
3. 127 v ENG at Oval, 2021
4. 161 v ENG at Chennai, 2021
5. 120 v AUS at Nagpur, 2023#INDvAUS | #BorderGavaskarTrophy2023 | #HarmanpreetKaur | #VenkateshPrasad pic.twitter.com/4QsrLuNvFh— RoHITMAN79 (@ImRoMI45) February 22, 2023
“It’s not like Rahul could not have been dropped earlier, but both Rohit and Rahul Dravid had given statements that they would back Rahul,” he further added.
“Around 2012, it seemed that Rohit Sharma might not find a place in the one-day team. After 30-odd innings, he was averaging under 30 I think. But the team invested in him and pushed him to open. The rest is history,” said Chopra.
Sharma has been phenomenal ever since he began opening the batting for India in Tests in 2019. The Indian skipper was struggling to cement a place in the middle-order after making his debut in 2013 in test matches, he now has made the opening spot his own with 1735 runs in 22 matches at an average of over 50 and 6 hundred.
“Even in Test matches, where Rohit’s career seemed at the crossroads, the team management decided to open with him, ahead of Abhimanyu Easwaran and Priyank Panchal, who were scoring heavily in domestic cricket. The decision worked wonders,” concluded former cricketer cum analyst.
Team India’s opener KL Rahul is struggling with his form and has not managed to go past 23 run mark in the last 10 test match innings. The Karnataka cricketer debuted for India in the longer format of the game in the 2014-15 Australia tour, he scored seven tons for team India in test matches with his last century in 2021 against South Africa in Centurion.
It will be interesting to see the combination with which team India will go for the rest of the two matches in the series. While Men in Blue needs to win at least three test matches of four test match series in the ongoing BGT to claim the World Test Championship (WTC) final berth.