Former Indian spinner Venkathpathy Raju came to the rescue of KL Rahul. Raju wants Rahul to prove his caliber after he followed a duck in his first inning with a 12-run game in the 1st Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
Raju does not want the Indian team to be under panic right after the 8-wicket loss in the opening match of the series as they are still at the high position in the standings of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. He wishes for Rohit Sharma to go to the Test in Pune with the same Playing XI.
“I don’t think we should tinker with the playing XI. If I were the captain, I would go with the same side. You need experienced hands in your team. You can’t bench KL Rahul after just one Test match. He is an experienced batter and should play the next Test. There’s no need to panic. India are still on top of the WTC standings. Rohit is a positive captain. He goes in with a positive approach, and he knows that what’s done is done, and now it’s time to level the series. I’m sure he will,” Raju said.
Raju does not want the team management to be thinking about the ongoing Test series and think about the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
“India should think about those five Tests in Australia and not panic. Let’s play KL Rahul in the second Test and give him a chance. He’ll bounce back. He has experience. India just need to pull up their socks. That’s it,” he added.
