Venkatesh Prasad once again slammed out-of-form batsman KL Rahul in a series of tweets and claimed that there is discrimination in selection. A few days back, Prasad had alleged favouritism in Rahul’s selection in the playing XI. After Rahul got out for 17 in India’s first innings of the Delhi Test against Australia, Prasad took to Twitter to slam the opening batsman.
“And the torrid run continues. More to do with rigidity of the management to persist with a player who just hasn’t looked the part. No top order batsman in atleast last 20 years of Indian cricket has played these many tests with such a low average. His inclusion is ….,” Prasad wrote in one of his tweets.
“His inclusion shakes belief in Justice. SS Das had great potential,so did S Ramesh,both avgd 38+but did not get beyond 23 test matches. Rahul’s consistent inclusion gives an impression of lack of batting talent in India which isn’t true. Last 5 years his avg is below 27 in 47 inn.”
“No one given chances like KL. This discrimination clearly won’t be encouraging for any player. KL had great potential but has simply not performed and been given chances without deserving it. Now if he plays well next innings maybe sealed for 2 years :),” he wrote in another tweet.
Rahul was clearly struggling in the first hour of the day and Australia challenged the on-field umpire’s call twice. Even though they lost their reviews, it created pressure on the batsman and he got trapped in front of the stumps. The vice-captain decided to challenge the on-field umpire’s decision but got out. It also meant that India lost the review.
Rahul has scores of 50, 8, 12, 10, 22, 23, 10, 2, 20 and 17 in Test matches he has played since 2022 and the pressure is mounting on him to score runs. He has another innings to prove himself. Rahul could face the axe if he fails in the second innings as in-form Shubman Gill is warming the bench due to his presence at the top.
