NEWS
Follow UsAhead of the second Test against New Zealand in Pune, starting on October 24 (Thursday), India will have to take a call on whether to give KL Rahul a long rope or play in-form Sarfaraz Khan. Shubman Gill missed the first Test in Bengaluru due to a stiff neck and that allowed Sarfaraz to feature in India’s middle-order.
The 26-year-old got out for a duck in the first innings but slammed a stunning century in the second essay, scoring 150 off 195 deliveries. The right-hander now averages 58.33 after four Tests, having hit three fifties and one century. Gill is now match-ready and is likely to feature in the second Test. But the question is, who will he replace?
It would be harsh on Sarfaraz to drop him after such a hundred, and that brings us to Rahul. The 32-year-old got out for 0 and 12 in the opening Test, which India lost by eight wickets, and now averages 33.87 after 53 Tests. In fact, Rahul has the second-worst average (27.73) among Indian batters (top eight) with at least 20 innings since 2018.
Commenting on the situation, India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said: “Yeah, there's no point in sugarcoating it, there's a fight for a spot. Sarfaraz was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test (and) said how many balls do you play at (and) miss at? He didn't play and miss one ball and that's what tends to happen when you're not getting runs.
"There's certainly no concerns about KL, he's batting nicely, he's in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what's going to be best for the team."
Ten Doeschate added that Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir wants to give Rahul a long rope. “Gauti (Gambhir) is keen to give him a long rope like Sanju (Sanju Samson).”
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