Even though India bowled out visitors Australia for just 91 in their second innings to resister victory in the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad slammed Team India selectors for giving ‘so many chances’ to KL Rahul.
KL Rahul continued with his bad form and scored just 20 runs of 71 balls in the first innings of the test series.
Taking to Twitter, Prasad said, “I have a lot of regard for KL Rahul’s talent and ability, but sadly his performances have been well below par. A test average of 34 after 46 tests and more than 8 years in international cricket is ordinary. Can’t think of many who have been given so many chances.”
“Especially, when there are so many waiting in the wings & in top form. Shubhman Gill is in sublime form, Sarfaraz has been scoring tons in FC cricket and many who deserve a chance ahead of Rahul. Some are just lucky to be given chances endlessly till they succeed while some aren’t allowed to,” the pacer said in a series of tweets.
“And to make matters worse, Rahul is the designated vice-captain. Ashwin has a great cricketing brain, should be the vice captain in the Test format. If not him should be Pujara or Jadeja .Mayank Agarwal had a far better impact than Rahul in Tests and so did Vihari,” he wrote.
Coming down heavily on the selectors, Prasad said, “Rahul’s selection is not based on performance but favouritism . Has been Consistently inconsistent and for someone who has been around for 8 years not converted potential into performances. One of the reasons why many ex-cricketers aren’t vocal despite seeing such favouritism is the chances of losing out on potential IPL gigs. They wouldn’t want to rub the captain of a franchisee wrong way, as in today’s age most people like yes men and blind approvers. Often well wishers are your best critics but times have changed & people don’t want to be told truth.” (sic)