KL Rahul finally out of the playing eleven, why did the team management have to take a decision?

Indian team’s legendary opener batsman KL Rahul seems to have increased problems. Rahul was left out of the playing eleven for the third Test against Australia. In his place, youngster Shubman Gill has been included in the team. Looking at Rahul’s overall Test stats and his performances in the last few Test matches, it looks like the team management had to take this decision.

In the last few years, KL Rahul has shown a bang for India in the ODI and T20 formats. But it seems that he could not perform as expected in Test cricket. Rahul has played 47 Test matches for the Indian team so far and his average is 33.44. As Rahul comes to open the innings for the team, his innings is important in every match. But looking at his average in Test cricket, the performance seems to be unsatisfactory. He has scored 2642 runs in these 47 Test matches with the help of 7 centuries and 13 fifties.

Compared to Rahul, other Indian batsmen like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara have far better Test averages. Rohit has averaged 46.76, Virat 48.49 and Pujara 44.41 in Tests. In the first two Tests against Australia, Rahul scored 38 runs at an average of just 12.66. Also Rahul’s last Test century also came on December 26, 2021 while playing against South Africa.

On the other hand, Shubman Gill has been in tremendous form in the last few months. The team management, captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid were repeatedly criticized for keeping the in-form Gill on the bench and allowing Rahul to play. Finally, on Wednesday, the team management dropped Rahul from the playing eleven and gave Shubman Gill a chance. Gill has scored three ODI centuries and one ODI double century since the start of 2023.

India’s playing XI for third Test –
Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akshar Patel, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj.
(Why KL Rahul could not get a chance in the playing eleven in the third test match)

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