Feb 10, 2025 06:50 PM IST
KL Rahul has been chosen ahead of Rishabh Pant as India’s wicketkeeper due to his incredible record in the middle order but he hasn’t fired against England.
India have sealed a series win against ODI with one match to spare with two dominant wins. However, on both ocassions, their batting effort followed a similar pattern of collapsing right at the end of the chase with the match nearly won. Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was in the commentary box when this happened in the second ODI after Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed and KL Rahul ended up falling trying to pull a short ball.
“They’ve got it in control. India don’t need to do anything stupid at this point. Just 30 more needed. Get these runs in singles if need be,” Gavaskar could be heard saying just as Jamie Overton was loading his run up. The England pacer sent in a short delivery, Rahul swiveled trying to pull but he overestimated the speed of the ball. It reached him once he was almost through with the shot and took his glove before going to the wicketkeeper Phil Salt. Rahul was gone for 10 runs off 14 balls. Gavaskar didn’t comment at all on the dismissal.
An unproductive series with the bat for Rahul
India were 220/3 when Rohit fell after a masterful 119 off 90 balls which set his side on the way in the chase of 304. However, India then suddenly collapsed to 286/6, even losing three wickets between the 37th and 42nd overs. India ended up winning the match by four wickets, which was exactly the margin of victory in the first ODI.
India’s collapse was noticed in the 2nd ODI, with former head coach Ravi Shastri saying in the commentary box that the team need to reconsider some of their batting positions in the middle order. He also questioned the team’s ploy of leave out Rishabh Pant.
Rahul has been chosen as India’s wicketkeeper-batter ahead of Pant due to his vastly superior record as a middle order batter. Pant has batted seven times as a No.5 in ODIs and scored 310 at an average 44.28 with three half-centuries. While this may be an impressive record, Rahul averages 57.22 batting in that position in 30 ODIs with 1259. He has scored two centuries and nine half-centuries. However, he hasn’t quite fired in this series, being dismissed for just two runs in the first ODI.
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