Sanjay Manjrekar felt that KL Rahul’s drop and peaks in form during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 mirror the way he has batted over the past years, especially in Australia.
It started well for KL Rahul in India’s tour of Australia; he scored half-centuries in Perth and then at Brisbane; all that could not be converted since he opened the innings, as he scored 77 runs in the second innings of the Perth Test and then 84 in the first innings in Brisbane; he was pushed down by returning captain Rohit Sharma in the Boxing Day Test; even returned to the top but managed just 276 runs in 30.67 average.
According to Manjrekar, KL Rahul was destined for glorious things, and BGT 2024-25 was to have been the turning point, but he has not delivered again by the time the series concluded.
“I think now we know what KL Rahul is about. We were talking about him being India’s best batter at the start of the series. He looked so compact, then got that 80 in Brisbane as well. We thought this might just change his career in the right direction. Then you saw the failures again,” Manjrekar said, quoting ESPNCricinfo.
Manjrekar stated that KL Rahul’s patchy performance would, nonetheless, keep him in the India Test squad for the next series against England.
“I don’t see him being left out for England considering that India still are looking for an opener. They don’t want to go to [Abhimanyu] Easwaran and KL Rahul, the last time he was there, played well. So, I see that the opening combination continues, unless Rohit Sharma comes in and throws a spanner in the works,” he added.
