The excessively extended break in Indian cricket will come to an end in eight days when some of the nation’s most adored players play again when India plays Bangladesh in the first Test starting on Thursday. With an eye toward the World Test Championship final in June of next year, India’s new home season begins on June 22.
This will be the first time in more than a month that players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Jasprit Bumrah will be back in their national colors. After their historic 2-0 Test series in Pakistan, India realized how dangerous Bangladesh was. For that reason, the BCCI did not take any chances and announced a star-studded, fully-strengthened side for the two-Test series.
Sarfaraz Khan’s persistence in the middle order, despite the fact that some names, like Mohammed Shami and Shreyas Iyer, were left out for different reasons, compounds to Rohit Sharma’s and head coach Gautam Gambhir’s abundance of options. However, given that he never lost his spot and that the 27-year-old only replaced Sarfaraz in the Test series against England due to injury, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz’s primary rival for the No. 5 spot, is probably going to get the preference.
That being stated, Rahul faces a challenging task. Recuperating from an injury is never simple, and Rahul, who has a history of injuries, will need to start over. Rahul has far too often been in and out of all three Indian squads, and former opener Aakash Chopra believes it’s time for him to go over the “shadows of Kohli and Rohit.” Yes, Chopra believes that Rahul still has much to prove despite having played in 50 Tests, 77 ODIs, and 72 T20Is. And there’s no better way to prove it than by amassing a ton of runs.
“I personally like KL Rahul as a player. He will have to score runs. If he keeps scoring runs, he will keep moving forward. His fate is that he will always be in the shadows of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. These are the big guys. I feel Rahul is super talented, super skilled. He will keep playing until he keeps scoring runs. Although the team rates him very highly, an atmosphere gets created against him very quickly in Indian cricket,” Chopra said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
This Indian team’s floater has been Rahul. He has kept wicket when necessary and been moved up and down the order in accordance with the needs of the team. When Rishabh Pant was sidelined by injury last year, Rahul stepped in as the wicketkeeper and did an absolutely fantastic job. Rahul gave up his opener position in the Tests to play in the middle order, where he has performed a respectable job, despite the rise of youthful players Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.
Rahul was not included in India’s T20I team last year, and he is unlikely to return given the number of young players vying for his spot. Regarding Tests, Rahul has hit a century against South Africa at Centurion and a strong 86 in the first game of the series at home against England in his past three games. Chopra is agitated by Rahul’s continued criticism, though. Even with complete support, Chopra believes Rahul won’t last long in the Indian Test team until he amasses a huge run total.
“There are plenty of people who go after him. So he won’t get as long a rope as you would give to anyone else with the same caliber or pedigree. If it’s up to me, I would definitely give it because he has scored a lot of runs and difficult runs,” he added.
