Should KL Rahul be selected for the Champions Trophy hoping he gets fit in time?

[SecondSlip]

Hi guys! I have one question to ask regarding selection for our title defense of the Champions Trophy 2 months from now in June! 

I know that during the 3 ODIs against England he was poor, but it seems/seemed like the lad was regaining his form shortly after that! He scored 70 odd in the 2nd T20 in Nagpur against England where batsmen from both sides (except Stokes) found batting difficult. After that, Rahul batted in 7 test innings against Australia and scored 50+ in 6 of them! The only inning where he didn't get over 50 was the second innings in Pune where our whole team barely scored above 100 as a unit! 

This injury came at such a wrong time for him unfortunately. He was expected to be one of the main stays of Team RCB and expand his knowledge and skills of the game by learning from the likes of Kohli and AB. If not for this injury, he would have gotten great net practice as well batting in the nets against express pace bowlers like Tymal Mills and Billy Stanlake! But its okay, that is destiny I guess! 

However, if you guys had the job of a selector, would you choose Rahul in the squad of 15 for the Champions Trophy in hoping that he gets fit on time? Or would you pick someone else instead of him? Let's see who are the most realistic options: 

Ajinkya Rahane - I think its safe to assume that this guy is now a TTF in ODI cricket. Has played over 70 matches yet averages in the low 30s and strike rate is not even 80. He really shouldn't even be in the reckoning but you guys know how our selectors thinking is! (Or lack of) 

Dinesh Karthik - He has had a terrific year in domestic ODI cricket (List A) and even took Tamil Nadu to a series win against both India A & India B in the deodhar trophy! However, this guy has played the same amount of ODIs as Rahane and has even worse stats than him! In his last ODI match that he played for India, we were playing against arch rivals Pakistan. I may be wrong here but I believe that he was the main reason for that loss. He scored only 20 odd off 50 odd balls and missed a crucial stumping as well which ultimately cost us the match! I believe its safe to label him as a TTF as well. 

Manish Pandey - Got a brilliant match winning century against Australia in Sydney very early into his ODI career and showed lots of promise! After that, he captained India A to the quadrangular series title where he himself scored 2 centuries in that same tournament! However, when New Zealand came to India for a 5 match ODI series, Pandey threw his wicket away in 4 of those innings and was never given a chance after that and was replaced by Yuvraj Singh. I know its early days in the IPL but he just recently scored 80 not out and smacked international bowlers like Malinga and McCleanaghan for clean sixes. I believe he is a very talented player and deserves more chances for sure! Should not be written off at all at this stage of his career. 

So back to the main question, would you select Rahul for the title defense in June? Or would you pick one of these players instead? 

Edited April 13, 2017 by SecondSlip

[Lord]

Open with Dhawan with Pandey as a backup.no need of rahul

[Sidhoni]

In the squad definitely but not sure if in the 11. If any two of Rahane/Dhawan/Rohit/Karthik have a great IPL then his chances will be bleak.

[Ankit_sharma03]

yes he shud and he wud have practice games there so we can take a call

[Pollack]

6 hours ago, Lord said:

Open with Dhawan with Pandey as a backup.no need of rahul

Why do you not rate Rahul much? Are you a dhawan fan? 

On topic: It will be a huge blunder not to include him. Why is this even a question. Past records are past.Just because he did well in England in last CT does not mean he is an automatic selection. Dhawan is not the same anymore.That was his purple patch.Its over now. Rahul is a special talent.

[Lord]

2 minutes ago, Pollack said:

Why do you not rate Rahul much? Are you a dhawan fan? 

On topic: It will be a huge blunder not to include him. Why is this even a question. Past records are past.Just because he did well in England in last CT does not mean he is an automatic selection. Dhawan is not the same anymore.That was his purple patch.Its over now. Rahul is a special talent.

What has Rahul done in ODIs?What wrong has Dhawan done in ODIs?He sucks in Tests and T20s but lets not confuse formats

 

Dhawan does well in ICC tourneys is a huge addon.But Rahul has done nothing in the format in question

[flat_wicket_bully]

I dont think he will recover in time tbh. Surgery takes longer time to heal. 

But if he does then most probably he will be selected but will be interesting to see if he in the playing XIs as he will be playing without any match practice

[WC2011INDIA]

He will get injured again if he is selected for CT. I can guarantee that.

 

 

[Laaloo]

5 hours ago, WC2011INDIA said:

He will get injured again if he is selected for CT. I can guarantee that.

 

 

Then Rahane should be selected.............

[Cricketics]

Include him for the tour, we will have 3 group games so it is not that we will try too many changes in 3 games. So what we can do is try Rahul and see how he is doing in the warm up games which will be held before actual tournent like it usually happens. He should find his rhythm in those games. Usually there are always two games before CT, so he should play in those. 

[bowl_out]

Pandey has been a back up in the ODI side.. But the selectors normally see like-to-like replacements for positions... So, if Rahul is injured or just about recovered, the selectors might pick Rahane to open, while Pandey will still be on the bench

[GoodEnough]

3 hours ago, laaloo said:

Then Rahane should be selected.............

No RAHUL

 

But

 

VIRAT @4 PM

JADEJA @ 8 pm

 

But what pm Laalo?

Not see you on live games.

 

[Sandeep99]

Yes please!

 

Dhawan (I know he's shyte, but can create impact at the top)

Rohit

Kohli

Rahul (needs to be groomed in this position, has the game to both play in and hit out)

Dhoni

Jadhav

Hardik

Jadeja

Umesh

Shami

Bhuvi

 

Reserves - Pandey (for Dhoni's position), Kuldeep, Chahal, Ashwin, Bumrah

[Lord]

37 minutes ago, Sandeep99 said:

Yes please!

 

Dhawan (I know he's shyte, but can create impact at the top)

Rohit

Kohli

Rahul (needs to be groomed in this position, has the game to both play in and hit out)

Dhoni

Jadhav

Hardik

Jadeja

Umesh

Shami

Bhuvi

 

Reserves - Pandey (for Dhoni's position), Kuldeep, Chahal, Ashwin, Bumrah

Umesh over Bumrah in ODIs?

[cowboysfan]

BCCI as always very unprofessional when it comes to reporting injuries.All we know is he has a "shoulder surgery" which could a lot of things and will have different recovery times.This is not a isolated case ,they have been doing a shoddy job in reporting injuries and recovery timetable since forever.

[Lannister]

Should try out Pant. Dhawan is useless as we can't relay on his once in a life time performance. Him, Raina and Dhoni were the mediocrity of last few years. 

[kira]

Yes, not only he should be selected, he will be the most successful batsman in the champions trophy, yes, you heard it here first, bookmark it.

[kira]

22 hours ago, Sandeep99 said:

Yes please!

 

Dhawan (I know he's shyte, but can create impact at the top)

Rohit

Kohli

Rahul (needs to be groomed in this position, has the game to both play in and hit out)

Dhoni

Jadhav

Hardik

Jadeja

Umesh

Shami

Bhuvi

 

Reserves - Pandey (for Dhoni's position), Kuldeep, Chahal, Ashwin, Bumrah

lol wtf bumrah is our best limited overs bowler, he's the first name on the playing XI

[Vk1]

Rahane seriously ? Get pant or Rana or karthik

[Laaloo]

Rahul is out of CT