Former India opener defends KL Rahul after Venkatesh Prasad’s dig

Though skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid have backed Team India’s struggling opener KL Rahul, several fans and experts continue to target him due to his continuous failure during the ongoing Test series against India.

In a recent tweet, former Indian medium pacer Venkatesh Prasad, who has been continuously criticising Rahul for his dismal shows, questioned the overseas performance perception of Rahul. Prasad suggested that the opener only averages 30 in 56 innings outside India.

However, another former India opener Aakash Chopra has defended the beleaguered batter now by countering Prasad’s claims.

“There is a view that KL Rahul has an outstanding overseas Test record. But stats speak otherwise. He has a test avg of 30 overseas in 56 innings. He has scored 6 overseas centuries but followed it up with a string of low scores that’s why averaging 30,” Prasad tweeted on Monday.

Chopra countered Prasad’s tweet by suggesting it’s the Karnataka batter’s numbers in SENA countries for which the team management is extending its support towards him.

Indian batters in SENA countries. May be, this is the reason selectors/coach/captain are backing KLR. He’s played 2 Tests at home (ongoing BGT) during this period
No, I don’t need a BCCI role as a selector/coach
I don’t need any mentor, coaching role at any IPL team either 🙏 pic.twitter.com/qV6qo6Plvt

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 21, 2023

“Indian batters in SENA countries. Maybe, this is the reason selectors/coach/captain are backing KLR. He’s played 2 Tests at home (ongoing BGT) during this period No, I don’t need a BCCI role as a selector/coach I don't need any mentor, coaching role at any IPL team either,” Chopra tweeted while sharing the stats of Rahul in SENA countries.

Notably, both Prasad and Chopra have differed on Rahul’s potential many times in the past.