The former middle-order batter for India and the Tamil Nadu side, Subramaniam Badrinath, has made an interesting choice for the best batter of the side during the five-match series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 down under against Australia, where he ignores both the veterans, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
Virat, the former captain for India in Tests, had a supreme start to the series, where he smashed his 30th century in the longest format at the Optus Stadium in Perth. But since then, he seemed to have lost the rhythm in the contest. In Adelaide, during the pink-ball day-night encounter, he wasn’t sure whether to play the short and wide ball of Mitchell Starc before getting another outside edge in the second innings.
The same issue continued in the second innings when he leaned forward to get another outside edge on the fifth stump-ball. The story has been the same with the current Test captain of India, Rohit Sharma, who missed the first Western Test of the series due to paternity leave for the birth of his child before making his return at the Adelaide Oval.
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In both innings, the Nagpur-born couldn’t do much with the blade, being trapped on the pads in the first innings before being squared up in the second against the bowling of Pat Cummins. The same struggle was stretched into the third encounter of the Gabba in Brisbane.
Subramaniam Badrinath addresses KL Rahul as the best batter of India in BGT 2024-25
Yashasvi Jaiswal, the young opener of the side, looked like a brilliant model during the Perth Test when he learned from the mistake of the first innings in going hard at the outswingers of Mitchell Starc and made his way to a 161-run knock in the second innings, where he showed the aggressive version of his batting.
But even the left-handed opening batter of India lost the sharpness as the series progressed. In the first innings of the second Test, the Mumbai batter was adjusted leg before the stumps on the very first delivery of the game before getting another feather outside edge while facing Scott Boland under the full effects of the light. In the first innings of the third Gabba Test, he started with a lucky boundary in the gully region before flicking the leg-sided ball straight into the hands of the square-leg fielder.
The only batter to stand out in the series so far from the visiting side is KL Raul, as Subramaniam Badrinath has suggested. The former batter for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has posted an image on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) where he reckoned that the Karnataka-opener has fought against the Australian pacers, the pressure of wickets falling from the other end and the frequent rain breaks that was quite vulnerable in breaking the momentum of a batter.
Rahul wasn’t even in the scheme of India for the series after his poor time in the four home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand. But the Bengaluru-born has displayed incredible resilience and patience in leaving the balls outside the off stump.
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He has also looked to play the ball pretty late, by which, he has found his eyes under the shot, keeping it under full control. The designated opener of India smashed an impressive and vital 86-run knock in 139 balls in the first innings of the Gabba Test with the help of eight boundaries.
KL Raul is now the second-leading run-getter of the series, with 231 runs at an average of 46.20. He will look to keep the form going in the last five innings of the series.