File photo of KL Rahul© AFP
Star India batter KL Rahul earned a recall to the side for the upcoming first Test against Bangladesh, starting September 19. The veteran batter, who last played a Test earlier this year on home conditions against England, is likely to reclaim his place from domestic stalwart Sarfaraz Khan, despite the latter impressing on his first-ever India call-up. For the unversed, Rahul only lost his place to Sarfaraz due to an injury. While analysing the squad, former India batter Aakash Chopra suggested that Rahul will have a point to prove.
Chopra pointed out that Rahul has been dropped too many times from the team, hinting that if the 50-Test veteran fails to score runs, an 'atmosphere will be created' to get him out of the team yet again.
"I personally like KL Rahul as a player. He will have to score runs. If he keeps scoring runs, he will keep moving forward. His fate is that he will always be in the shadows of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. These are the big guys. I feel Rahul is super talented, super skilled. He will keep playing until he keeps scoring runs. Although the team rates him very highly, an atmosphere gets created against him very quickly in Indian cricket," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Chopra added if he was the selector, he'd back someone like Rahul for a longer run considering the amount of "difficult runs" he has scored for the team.
"There are plenty of people who go after him. So he won't get as long a rope as you would give to anyone else with the same caliber or pedigree. If it's up to me, I would definitely give it because he has scored a lot of runs and difficult runs," he added.
Meanwhile, India's long Test season begins with the first of the two Tests against Bangladesh in Chennai, starting on September 19.
India's squad for the 1st Test of the Bangladesh Test series: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.