KL Rahul’s “Unfair Treatment” Sparks Debate; Manjrekar Pushes Back: “Nobody Would Dare…

KL Rahul’s “Unfair Treatment” Sparks Debate; Manjrekar Pushes Back: KL Rahul sparked a conversation between two former India cricketers in Deep Dasgupta and Sanjay Manjrekar. This conversation was not one that was heated, nor one that stretched on, but Manjrekar and Dasgupta had varied things to say about how exactly the International career of Rahul-but especially his Test disparity-has unfolded over his 11 years in the game. Rahul has played 58 Tests for India, but with 3257 runs at a subpar average of -33.57, somewhat disappointing for someone of his experience. Whether it's injury or form, Rahul has been in and out of the team way too many times, which has reflected in his number. Dasgupta, outweighed that blame by placing the blame on the BCCI for treating an Indian batter poorly.

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"See, I just hope they give him a permanent position now. He made his debut in 2014. It's been more than a decade, but we still don't know where does he fit into the Indian Test side? Is he a middle-order batter? Is he an opener? I think it's about time to tell him, 'KL, you've got to play this series or whatever, and you’re going to play as an opener. This is what you’re going to do. And I think once you give him that position, that security, we will see a different KL Rahul," Dasgupta said while speaking on Star Sports ahead of the start of India's first innings of the Headingley Test against England.

"As of now, in every series,Virat Kohli's absence felt even before first ball is bowled in IND vs ENG Test: 'Moved on from Gavaskar, Sachin but...' it's like KL Rahul is trying to cement his position from one series to the next. You need a wicketkeeper in South Africa, call him. You need a No. 5, call him. Opener? Yes. So that’s something I think is being quite unfair on him. It's been a decade now. Come on. Give him that series, maybe more than that and tell him this is how we are looking at you – as an opener – and play him."

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Dasgupta referenced that Rahul has been the eternal floater for the Indian Team across formats. He would take it even further and say that he does not know any batter in Tests alone that has floated up and down on the order, that much more than Rahul. In his time batting as an opener, Rahul has scored 2815 runs, and scored 234 runs on the (6 innings) around 6 Test matches where he has batted at the No. 6 position. Manjrekar would not agree with either Dasgupta or his judgments, citing the lack of any sort of consistency that goes wrong for Rahul in all of these years.

"Am I allowed to contradict? I will be nice. I believe KL Rahul has not shown the kind of consistency that’s expected of him at any position. Had this been a guy who averaged 52 as an opener, nobody would dare drop him to No. 4 or 5. Having said that, huge responsibility on him. And Deep, given your assessment of leaving the balls, we'll see how Rahul goes about it today," said Manjrekar.

With Rohit Sharma's retirement, Rahul has yet another great opportunity to cement himself as an opener for India along with Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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