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The curious case of KL Rahul: Talent or favouritism? A match winner or a liability? | Cricket News


NEW DELHI: In the firing line for his stretched lean patch, The continuation of KL Rahul in the Test team came as a surprise to many. But team India management have persevered with the 30-year-old, using his double ton – which has appeared in the Overseas Tests in 2021 – to defend his continued picks. that.
Not a single 25 plus in the last 10 rounds for Rahul and despite that select in the Test group has become the most curious case in Indian cricket.
Not many have survived the setbacks Rahul has endured and few have received as solid support as the man from Bengaluru has received in recent times.
So why is he being persistent with?
Talent or bias? a match winner or a liability? There are different opinions, but for important men, he is precious.
Not too many videos about Virat kohli And Rohit Sharma in the same frame. But there was a scene shortly after the Indian team wrapped up their Asian Cup campaign in Dubai, where Kohli was interviewed by his captain for BCCI TV after his much-awaited 71st international match, meet Afghanistan.
That interaction stands out for a different reason.
“We shouldn’t ignore KL’s knock-out because we know how important it is for KL to get good headspace, heading into the World Cup. We know what he can do in this format, play. the shots were very neat and once he hit the ball in T20 cricket, our team was even stronger,” Kohli said when Rohit asked the former captain how he helped the other players.

If one has potential, he gets to run, not just KL Rahul, says India captain Rohit Sharma

If one has potential, he gets to run, not just KL Rahul, says India captain Rohit Sharma

The only thing that seemed a bit out of place in that particular interview was that the question about Rahul seemed unnatural. It looks like they are trying to put out a statement supporting Rahul on behalf of the team.
The two biggest names in that dressing room wanted a protective shield around a teammate, whom they saw as a talent minefield but whose accomplishments were few and far between.
Almost six months have passed since that interaction and calls to oust Rahul have culminated in three consecutive defeats to Australia. Before facing Australia, he had four under 25 points against Bangladesh, not the scariest score among the Test’s opponents.

What surprised many was the total authority that the leadership of the team led by Rahul Dravid gave to the Bangalore man.
Over the past two weeks, three senior members of the Indian team’s management have had conundrums about Rahul’s form, but there’s something uncanny with their defence.
In Nagpur, PTI asked batting coach Vikram Rathour, also a former national, about Rahul’s form. At first, he didn’t want to comment but later talked about his two hundred Final Tests.
“To be fair to KL, he (Rahul) got two hundred points in his last 10 Tests – one in the UK and one in South Africa and also got a couple of fifty points. So I am don’t think we’re there,” Rathour said in Nagpur after Monday’s game against Australia.
Cutting across Delhi, in the post-match conversation between coach Dravid and captain Rohit, the basic story of Rahul seems to have been cut from the same canvas.
“It’s not just about KL, it’s anybody. If you look at a few hundred people, he’s been outside of India (UK and SA, both in 2021), one of the best I’ve seen. from KL, especially at Lord’s.
“Hitting the ball on that wet pitch in England, (also) after losing a pitch and getting hit is never easy. He (Rahul) had a great performance there and Centurion was the one.” another guy. India won both of those games. That’s the potential he has,” Rohit was full of praise for his then vice-captain.
Dravid said almost the same thing in a reconstructed way.
“We will support him (Rahul) as much as we can,” Dravid told Star Sports.
So why is this so appealing to a particular player, who has an average score below par 33.44 after 47 Trials.
That’s because every key member of the team management feels that Rahul has more talent than Mayank Agarwal or Shikhar Dhawan.
Talent without hard work is of no use but hard work without talent only guarantees limited success.
Let’s take some numbers to decipher the opening three players who have played for India in the past five years.
Rahul has recorded 81 Test runs and only crossed the 50-run mark 20 times, covering seven hundred and 13 half-century. The conversion rate is a 50 plus stroke every four innings. Nothing spectacular.
Coming to Mayank Agarwal, he has 36 Test rounds recorded and has 10 kills over 50, with four hundred and six half a century. That’s a fifty plus shot every 3.6 turns.
The third sample is from Dhawan, the last Test player in 2018. He played 58 turns and had the best 50 to 100 conversion of the trio, with seven hundred and fifty. So that’s 12 and fifty pluses in 58 kills, about one kill per five rounds (4.83 to be exact).
But this is the catch. Agarwal was eliminated after eight under-50 knockdowns. The same goes for Dhawan, who was knocked out after eight defeats (4 Tests) in England, where he started in four innings. In one of the Tests which India won, Dhawan scored 35 and 44 at Nottingham.
But in Rahul’s case, there were too many failures in between his successes.
Since his last percentage at Centurion on the Gift Day Test, Rahul has played 11 innings and scored a point fifty but suffered 10 consecutive defeats, unable to get past the 25.
Team India is using a different metric for Rahul. They don’t show the number of plays he has failed and only talk about the two hundred turns he got in his last 10 Tests.
Where the group management’s alleged “biasism” seems to be believed, if one looks through Venkatesh Prasad’s powerful tweets in the previous two Tests, his skinny span how long does it take before he hits that hundreds at Lords in 2021.
Before that hit, he played 14 innings in three years and scored a point fifty. The hundreds test against Lord took place in 2018, but that happened in a deadlock in the Oval Office, after India lost the series. Before Oval hundred, he had a dry spell with 15 knocks without fifty.
To be fair to Dravid, Rohit and Rathour, they are not part of the previous leadership of Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Bangar, who also supported Rahul to the end.
With Shubman Gill waiting at a time when he’s in a pinch, Rahul, who has been stripped of the lieutenant’s armband, may have one last chance to redeem himself in Indore.
Numbers don’t always paint the big picture, and the great Neville Cardus once wrote: “The scoreboard is a donkey because, in such cases, it would ruin a completely interesting story.”
From Rahul, Dravid and Rohit are waiting for that story.
(With input from PTI)

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