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"Look At Rohit Sharma...": Gautam Gambhir's Unique Take On KL Rahul Saga


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KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma  

6 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you agree with Gambhir's comparison of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma

    • No, KL Rahul and Rohit are not in the same ball park (i.e. performances given at an age)
    • Yes, Gambhir has a point and KL Rahul deserves few more last chances to start performing


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"Look At Rohit Sharma...": Gautam Gambhir's Unique Take On KL Rahul Saga

In his last 10 Test innings, KL Rahul has averaged a dismal 12.5 with not a single score of above 25.

  • Press Trust of India
  • Updated: February 23, 2023 05:50 PM IST
Read Time:3 min
 
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KL Rahul had a dismal show in the first two Tests against Australia© AFP

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir feels that it is a tad unfair to single out KL Rahul for scathing criticism as every player goes through lean phases in their respective careers. In his last 10 Test innings, Rahul has averaged a dismal 12.5 with not a single score of above 25. His sequence of scores read 8, 10, 12, 22, 23, 10, 2, 20, 17 and 1, raising questions about his place in the playing XI. There are strong calls to induct Shubman Gill in playing XI. "KL Rahul should not be dropped from the Indian side. One should not single out any player. Everyone goes through a lean patch. No one, no cricket pundit or anyone should tell him that he is not doing well and be dropped," Gambhir told PTI during an interaction on the sidelines of IPL pre-season camp organised by Lucknow Super Giants.

 

Gambhir is the mentor of LSG and Rahul is the skipper of the same franchise.

The two-time IPL champion former captain of KKR also cited current India captain Rohit Sharma's example of how he was backed to the hilt by the erstwhile team management so that he is successful in Test cricket. Once Rohit started opening, things looked up for him in traditional format.

"You have to back players who have talent. Look at Rohit Sharma. He also had a lean patch. Look at the way he started his career. He had a late flourish. Compared (earlier times) to how he is performing now. Everyone could see his talent and backed him. Now see the result. He is going great guns. Rahul can do the same," Gambhir seemed confident of his abilities.

 

The southpaw is of the opinion that if the team is winning matches comfortably, there is no point in tinkering with winning combination and single out one player for harsh treatment.

"India is 2-0 up and not 0-2 down. So let's not axe anyone and appreciate the team's performance. I think the Indian team management is right in backing KL Rahul. He is a great player. He had scored runs in international cricket."

 

 

 

Edited by sarcastic
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I am in general ok with what Gambhir has to say but I severely disagree with him.

Especially, I don't agree with the comparison with Rohit Sharma. When Rohit was backed and brought as an opener in the series vs SA in 2019, here are Rohit Sharma's stats in all three formats.

Tests:

2013-2018 27 47 7 1585 177 39.62 2881 55.01 3 10 4 151 32

 

ODIs:

2007-2019 218 211 32 8686 264 48.52 9806 88.57 27 42 13 770 232

 

 

T20Is:

2007-2019 98 90 14 2443 118 32.14 1789 136.55 4 17 6 217

109

 

 

He is still good in T20Is and almost legendary in ODIs. His test record is bad but not absymal.

Is KL Rahul anywhere close to this to be backed in test cricket. I think not.

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17 hours ago, Lord said:

KL is already 30. Gambhir forgets Rohit started producing results in 20s

That's true for LOIs. Rohit made a strong  comeback to the test format in his 30s. But before making his test comeback, he was an ATG level LOI player. OTOH, KL is crap in all formats and is a sureshot failure when any sort of expectation is placed on him. It's time to move on from this mental weakling.  At best he can be a temporary placeholder when someone is out injured. 

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While Rohit was given chances earlier on in his career , his spot in the batting order wasn't fixed and he was in and out of the playing xi a fair bit as well. 

 

The parallels to the Indian team not knowing how to fit laxman in run true. It's only when Rohit Sharma got a fixed spot in the batting lineup that he started performing on a much more consistent basis and that's happened when he was in his late 20s. Even during Rohit's lean early period , he never was found out to be as incompetent as KL is. 

 

KLclown on the other hand has had multiple opportunities in his preferred slot and has failed massively. 

 

It's one thing giving people chances and one thing to give extended chances.

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