The Indian selectors and the team management decided to give KL Rahul the chance over Sarfaraz Khan to bat at number five in the first of the two Test matches against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The Karnataka-born made a good contribution for India A in the first round of the Duleep Trophy 2024 before making the return.
KL Rahul had an excellent time during India’s away red-ball series in South Africa towards the end of the year when he scored that vital century at the SuperSport Park in Centurion and bailed India out of the early struggle in the game.
He continued the same form with a fifty in the first innings of the first game in Hyderabad against England at the start of the year before the injury ruled him out for the rest of the four games. Now, as he has regained his fitness, it would be common sense for him to straightway, return to the Test side.
Ravi Shastri shares this advice to KL Rahul to get out of Test failure
The 32-year-old has smashed 2863 runs in 50 red-ball games before this Test in Chennai at an average of 34.08 and a strike rate of just over 50 with the help of eight centuries and 14 half-centuries, and that doesn’t demonstrate the quality of the batter in the longest format of the game.
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KL Rahul came into the middle during the first innings of the Chennai Test when the team was struggling, losing a few early wickets, and needed someone to stabilize themselves from the early poor situation. The right-handed batter showed his classic defense against the pacers Hasan Mahmud and Taskin Ahmed.
But, he went into a shell in trying to do so, and when the spinners came into the attack, he found an inside edge into the hands of the close-in fielder. Later, while remaining unbeaten on 22 runs in 19 balls, KL Rahul became the 17th batter to score 8000 runs in international cricket.
“8K International runs, Infinite talent, and KLass! We love you ♾000, KL Rahul #PlayBold #TeamIndia #INDvBAN.” The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) shared a post on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) to congratulate him on that note.
During the second session of the third day’s play, India was in the driver’s seat by the time the former Indian captain walked into the middle after the dismissal of Rishabh Pant, who made a century along with Shubman Gill, to take the lead of the home side to over 475.
The former head coach of the Indian side, Ravi Shastri, feels that it would be vital for the veteran to understand his quality and talent, to become a different player altogether.
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“KL Rahul needs to realize that he has got much talent. The day he realizes that and comes out with a mindset and thinking in that fashion. He will be a different player.” The former Indian all-rounder expressed while commentating during the first game in Chennai.
The last few months haven’t been how he would have hoped for, as he was dropped from the T20I squad of the national side before the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America. If KL Rahul wants to be on the plane to Australia towards the end of the year, the upcoming four games at home in the rest of the season will be quite vital for him.