In a couple of days, KL Rahul will likely find out if the team management persists with extending the long rope to him. As talented as the Bengaluru man is, he also had the privilege of the management’s trust through his injury concerns and inconsistency. Now, in the face of stiff competition from younger legs, Rahul’s place in the side raises some legitimate questions. In a sense, the man earmarked for greatness might have run out of avenues to be good. Of course, India coach Gautam Gambhir recently said the management would give their players the long rope to allow for a sense of security to settle in, but it’s unlikely that Rahul feels the weight of that purported sentiment as of today. Had India been deprived of such robust talent, Rahul’s 2981 runs from 53 matches at an average of 33.87, including eight 100s, would have made him a staple. That, evidently, isn’t the case anymore. There is no room for redundancies in this team, and Rahul may have begun to seem like one given the rise of the youth. After being pushed down the order since the arrival of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul could only be slotted at No. 6. Again, had he been consistent and injury-free, Jaiswal would likely have had to bide his time or maybe even sacrifice his desire to open for the sake of a spot anywhere. Instead, Rahul had to adapt to survive. He was asked to bat at No. 6 and keep wickets in Rishabh Pant’s absence. This new slice of hope came in his 48th Test last year, and he shone with a 101 against South Africa in Centurion in December 2023. Rahul, one would have assumed at the time, was the missing piece of the middle-order puzzle. Well, since then, he has scored 238 runs in nine innings. Worse yet, Shubman Gill, who has five centuries in 27 Tests, and Sarfaraz Khan, who averages 58.33 in four Tests, are there to fill the void should Rahul be benched. Moreover, Gill’s stiff neck seems to be a thing of the past; and Sarfaraz scored a 150 in his previous innings in Bengaluru. There then is no reason to believe Sarfaraz will be dropped after that showing, and a fully fit Gill, all of 25 years old, is the future. So, where does Rahul fit in? Tough to tell, but India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate gave away enough to suggest that Rahul might not be fitting in anywhere, at least not for the second Test. “Yeah, there’s no point in sugar coating it, there’s a fight for a spot between KL and Sarfaraz,” he said on Tuesday. “Sarfaraz was brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test and said how many balls do you play at and miss? He didn’t play at and miss one ball and that’s what tends to happen when you’re not getting runs. “There’s certainly no concerns about KL, he’s batting nicely, he’s in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what’s going to be best for the team,” he said. Doeschate tried to iron out the situation by diving into Gambhir’s long-rope credo, but, once again, he couldn’t help but indicate that Rahul was on the edge and tipping in the direction of falling. “It’s not like we’re worried about his form. If you go on just the past three months since Gautam has been in here, he’s keen to give him (Rahul) as much rope as we can. We have a lot of faith in him,” he said..Pant likely to keep in Pune TestIndia’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate revealed that Rishabh Pant is mostly likely going to reprise his role as the wicketkeeper during the second Test against New Zealand here. Pant did not ‘keep for most of the match after he was struck on his operated (left) knee during the opening Test in Bengaluru last week. He did come out to bat and made a stellar 99 in the second innings, but you could tell he was still hurting every so often. “Rishabh is pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharma) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed, he’ll be good to keep in the Test as well,” he said. Another update worth paying attention to was the inclusion of Washington Sundar to the squad after the Bengaluru Test. Ten Doeschate unveiled the management’s motive. “They (New Zealand) are filled with four left-handers in the XI. We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and we like the way he operates. It’s also nice to see that guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performance as well. We just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for conditions here, and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.
In a couple of days, KL Rahul will likely find out if the team management persists with extending the long rope to him. As talented as the Bengaluru man is, he also had the privilege of the management’s trust through his injury concerns and inconsistency. Now, in the face of stiff competition from younger legs, Rahul’s place in the side raises some legitimate questions. In a sense, the man earmarked for greatness might have run out of avenues to be good. Of course, India coach Gautam Gambhir recently said the management would give their players the long rope to allow for a sense of security to settle in, but it’s unlikely that Rahul feels the weight of that purported sentiment as of today. Had India been deprived of such robust talent, Rahul’s 2981 runs from 53 matches at an average of 33.87, including eight 100s, would have made him a staple. That, evidently, isn’t the case anymore. There is no room for redundancies in this team, and Rahul may have begun to seem like one given the rise of the youth. After being pushed down the order since the arrival of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul could only be slotted at No. 6. Again, had he been consistent and injury-free, Jaiswal would likely have had to bide his time or maybe even sacrifice his desire to open for the sake of a spot anywhere. Instead, Rahul had to adapt to survive. He was asked to bat at No. 6 and keep wickets in Rishabh Pant’s absence. This new slice of hope came in his 48th Test last year, and he shone with a 101 against South Africa in Centurion in December 2023. Rahul, one would have assumed at the time, was the missing piece of the middle-order puzzle. Well, since then, he has scored 238 runs in nine innings. Worse yet, Shubman Gill, who has five centuries in 27 Tests, and Sarfaraz Khan, who averages 58.33 in four Tests, are there to fill the void should Rahul be benched. Moreover, Gill’s stiff neck seems to be a thing of the past; and Sarfaraz scored a 150 in his previous innings in Bengaluru. There then is no reason to believe Sarfaraz will be dropped after that showing, and a fully fit Gill, all of 25 years old, is the future. So, where does Rahul fit in? Tough to tell, but India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate gave away enough to suggest that Rahul might not be fitting in anywhere, at least not for the second Test. “Yeah, there’s no point in sugar coating it, there’s a fight for a spot between KL and Sarfaraz,” he said on Tuesday. “Sarfaraz was brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test and said how many balls do you play at and miss? He didn’t play at and miss one ball and that’s what tends to happen when you’re not getting runs. “There’s certainly no concerns about KL, he’s batting nicely, he’s in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what’s going to be best for the team,” he said. Doeschate tried to iron out the situation by diving into Gambhir’s long-rope credo, but, once again, he couldn’t help but indicate that Rahul was on the edge and tipping in the direction of falling. “It’s not like we’re worried about his form. If you go on just the past three months since Gautam has been in here, he’s keen to give him (Rahul) as much rope as we can. We have a lot of faith in him,” he said..Pant likely to keep in Pune TestIndia’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate revealed that Rishabh Pant is mostly likely going to reprise his role as the wicketkeeper during the second Test against New Zealand here. Pant did not ‘keep for most of the match after he was struck on his operated (left) knee during the opening Test in Bengaluru last week. He did come out to bat and made a stellar 99 in the second innings, but you could tell he was still hurting every so often. “Rishabh is pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharma) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed, he’ll be good to keep in the Test as well,” he said. Another update worth paying attention to was the inclusion of Washington Sundar to the squad after the Bengaluru Test. Ten Doeschate unveiled the management’s motive. “They (New Zealand) are filled with four left-handers in the XI. We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and we like the way he operates. It’s also nice to see that guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performance as well. We just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for conditions here, and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.
