The selection of KL Rahul into the Indian Test team for the tour of Australia has not gone too well for some fans and experts and like all the issues of nowadays, it has polarized the cricketing world too. His selection has been termed as prioritizing IPL performances and overlooking recent records in the longest format by his critics while the others have supported the move by the selectors to back Rahul’s pedigree on a supposedly tough tour of Australia.
Analysts finding his selection correct are justifying the selectors' position by taking factors such as the experience of Rahul who has been on two tours of Australia in the past and the absence of Rohit Sharma from the squad but few like Aakash Chopra has some direct and rational anecdotes to justify Rahul's place in the squad to take on Australia.
In a column written for the ESPNCricinfo, Aakash Chopra has argued the move taken by the Sunil Joshi-led selection panel is a right one because KL Rahul is a special player and that he needs to be invested upon like the selectors have been doing with other players such as Virender Shewag, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who went on to become the undisputed legends of the modern-day cricket.
Recalling a similar time before the tour of Australia in 2007-08, Aakash Chopra wrote that he along with Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Jaffer were included in the 21-member provisional squad for the tour and it was certain that one of him or Gautam Gambhir would take the flight to Australia as the second opener as Virender Sehwag was out of favour following his dismal show with the bat in a year leading up that time. An effort to regain form and knock selectors’ gate also failed as Sehwag could not get going in a couple of matches before the squad was to be finalised.
Outlining the honesty and pragmatism of Virender Sehwag, Chopra wrote that the opener stepped up to the selectors and asked for his omission from the tour as he was not feeling good about his form. Interestingly, Chopra pointed out that the selection committee in consultation decided to back Sehwag for the tour only for him to not look back again as he cemented his position on the back of a dismissive hundred in Adelaide in the fourth match of the series.
Chopra also drew the comparison to the amount of backing Rohit Sharma got after failing as a middle-order batsman in the Indian team and the level of confidence that was shown on Virat Kohli after a disastrous England tour in 2014 to justify the selection of KL Rahul in the Test team for Australia and said that there are many instances that prove special players need investment to blossom and KL Rahul is indeed special in Chopra’s eyes.
Notably, KL Rahul has been in a top-notch form in the white-ball games both for India and the Kings XI Punjab in the last 18 months and it was a tempting option for the selectors to not waste his good form on the tour of Australia. Rahul is way ahead of the race for the Orange Cup in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League with 595 runs from 12 games. He has also shown admirable leadership qualities by leading the team to five wins on the trot that revived the Kings XI Punjab’s journey in the IPL 2020 and he has been rewarded for that quality as the selectors have made the Vice-captain the limited over the side for the tour of Australia in the absence of Rohit Sharma.
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