For the past few days, two former Indian Test players, Venkatesh Prasad, and Aakash Chopra, have been heatedly debating the continued selection of Indian opener KL Rahul in the team. While the retired fast bowler is of the firm opinion that KL Rahul needs to be dropped now and others should get a chance, Aakash Chopra believes he has done enough to justify his place in the team ahead of the likes of Gill, Mayank and others.
Aakash Chopra even called Venkatesh Prasad an agenda peddler and accused him of pushing some personal agenda for questioning KL Rahul’s spot. While we can’t even begin to imagine what agenda Prasad may have in pushing for Gill or Mayank in place of KL Rahul, but let’s just analyze if KL Rahul has actually been bad as an opener.
Rahul has played 47 Tests to date, and he averages 33.4 after those 47 Tests with 7 centuries to his name. In fact, this average is now lower than what he averaged in 2019 when he was dropped from the team. He was averaging marginally higher, 34.58, when he was axed at that time.
Following a string of injuries to other contenders, Rahul found himself back as the opener during the Test series in England in 2021 where he made a very good return. In his first innings after return, Rahul scored an impressive 84, following it up with a century in the next Test. However, the rest of the series didn’t go too well for him as he scored only 76 runs in his last 5 innings of the series, but still, it was a triumphant return for the opener.
Rahul started the series in South Africa in 2022 in impressive fashion as well as he scored another century in the first Test to drive India to a famous win. Even in the second Test in Johannesburg, Rahul continued his good away form as he scored a half-century in the first innings, his last half-century. Rahul has played 10 innings since then, in South Africa, Bangladesh, and now India, and aggregated 125 runs in those 10 innings. An average of 12.5 runs per inning in those 10 innings spread across 6 Tests.
In total, Rahul has played 11 Tests since he was recalled in 2021, scoring 636 runs in 21 innings at an average of 30.28 with 2 hundreds. When you have a string of openers like Mayank (averaging 70 in India), Gill (who was in God-like form hitting hundreds across formats, double hundred in ODIs), Shaw (whose off-field activities allegedly rule him out), and we aren’t even getting into the likes of Panchal….
Aakash Chopra made the argument that KL Rahul deserves to be selected against Australia in India due to his overseas record. That argument itself is nonsensical, why would we select someone in India for his overseas record? Anyway, let us look at KL Rahul’s overseas record, he averages 30 overseas after 56 innings, and that is after scoring 6 out of his 7 centuries away from India, so he really has been terrible in most of the innings outside India.
KL Rahul is not the only batsman living on his reputation
While the current discussion is focused on KL Rahul, one must not forget that there are two other top order batsmen who have been underperforming for years. Number 3, the pivotal position in Test cricket, is occupied by Cheteshwar Pujara, who has averaged 29 for the past 3 years with one century, against Bangladesh.
At number 4, India has Virat Kohli, one of the greatest-ever batsmen, and he is averaging 26.13 since January 2020. He hasn’t scored a 100 for nearly 3 and a half years now even though he has returned to form in white ball cricket.
This has meant that Indian batting has become overly reliant on Rishabh Pant, Rabindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Axar Patel, who has only played a handful of Tests, has also rescued the Indian batting on more than one occasion.
However, the top order has to start delivering soon if India is aiming to continue their run as a top Test-playing nation, as the bowling allrounders may not be able to rescue them each and every time.
It is time to start wondering whether we entered into an era where reputation trumps performances when it comes to deciding who plays for India for the Test side? There is no other explanation for the selection of the three top order batsmen in the Test side while they continue to average in 20s or low 30s.
