Following a historic biggest-ever victory in Test cricket by 434 runs against Ben Stokes’ England in the 3rd Test of the 5-match series in Rajkot, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has confirmed that the hosts will receive be further boosted with the comeback of a specialist batter for this series KL Rahul in the 4th Test at Ranchi.
Rohit Sharma confirmed this development regarding KL Rahul while speaking after the match. Rahul has been absent from the Indian squad due to an injury concern he sustained after the conclusion of the 1st Hyderabad where the hosts lost dramatically by 28 runs before responding with back-to-back wins at Vishakhapatnam and Rajkot.
Rahul missed both of those 108 runs and 434 run wins across the 2nd and 3rd Test due to his injured right quadriceps. He was ruled out alongside all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for the 2nd Test but they were then included in the squad for the remaining 3 Tests with a condition that they would be eligible to play only if they cleared the fitness test.
While Jadeja received the green light to appear in the 3rd Test before being named as man of the match for his 112 and 5-wicket haul in the Test, KL Rahul was still not available as he could not attain full fitness and was eventually sidelined.
That further decreased India’s experience in the middle order with the Rahul Dravid-led management handing debuts to Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel while Rajat Patidar, who originally came in as Virat Kohli’s replacement, flopped at number 4.
As for Sarfaraz, he had a dream debut, scoring consecutive half-centuries across innings in the 3rd Test win and becoming just the 4th Indian after Dilawar Hussain, Sunil Gavaskar, and Shreyas Iyer to achieve this incredible feat. As for Jurel, the wicket-keeper batsman batted much better than KS Bharat as his 46 were beneficial for India at the end of 1st innings and he also made a great effort to run out the dangerous Ben Duckett.
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No brainer for Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid to include KL Rahul in place of Rajat Patidar
It’s not that Rajat Patidar is a bad player or he should be dropped only after getting two chances but this series against England holds a lot of importance and the team management will not want to take any chances, especially with the way he got out for 5 and 0 in the 3rd Test – both were soft dismissals. Therefore, Patidar becomes an automatic choice to sit out and make way for KL Rahul.
And with the type of form Sarfaraz Khan was in, it is impossible to drop him and we might as well see him bat at number 5 which will also give him a solid chance to convert his 50s into 100s. Rohit Sharma indicated Rahul’s return by stating, “He seems to be good”.
Meanwhile, with India doubling their lead over England without either of KL Rahul or Virat Kohli, it is definitely a positive sign and a clear indication for all the things to come in the future.
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