Highlights
The Indian team for the World Cup has been announced
Entry of a player away from the cricket field for 4 months
KL Rahul in World Cup 2023 squad: India announced the 15-member squad on the same day as the deadline to announce the provisional squad for the World Cup. As it was already decided that Rohit Sharma will be the captain of the ODI World Cup team, it happened. Hardik Pandya has been given the vice captaincy. The most talked about player also got a chance in the World Cup squad. We are talking about KL Rahul. With this, it became clear that Rahul would be India’s first choice wicketkeeper in the World Cup.
Please inform that KL Rahul has not played any competitive cricket since May this year due to injury. However, he got a chance in the World Cup team. He will now go to Sri Lanka for the Super-4 round of the Asia Cup. He has already passed the fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore a day ago. Rahul was injured during the IPL and underwent thigh surgery. After this, he was selected in the Asia Cup squad, but due to injury, he missed the matches against Pakistan and Nepal.
Rahul has been away from the cricket field since May
In the absence of KL Rahul, backup wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan got a chance to play against Pakistan and played an important innings of 82 runs at number 5. After this there were even talks of Ishaan being included in the World Cup squad as the main wicketkeeper. However, when the squad was announced on Tuesday, it was confirmed that KL Rahul would be the first-choice wicketkeeper.
KL Rahul will have to prove his match fitness
KL Rahul’s selection in the World Cup squad could fuel the debate as to how a player who played his last ODI in March this year and has been away from competitive cricket for the past 4 months can be picked for the World Cup without playing a single game. match taken. While the World Cup is now only one month away. Rahul will not have many matches to prove his match fitness and regain his form.
If India reaches the final of the Asia Cup, they will play a total of 4 more matches followed by a 3 ODI series against Australia. That means India has to play 7 more ODIs before the World Cup. The pace Ishan Kishan is looking at, KL Rahul is finding it difficult to play all these seven matches and secondly, Rahul is coming back from injury. In such a situation it is also necessary to manage their workload. Because he will have the dual responsibility of a wicketkeeper in the World Cup.
Why was KL Rahul selected?
One of the reasons for picking KL Rahul in the World Cup squad is that his presence in the middle order adds depth to the team’s batting. He is likely to play at number five. His record and average in ODIs at this number is very good. Batting at number 5, KL Rahul has scored 742 runs at an average of 53 in 18 ODIs. He also scored a century. Playing at this number in the last 2 years, he has scored 289 runs at an average of 48 in 8 matches. That means his recent form is not bad either.
Rahul won twice this year as a troubleshooter.
India lost 4 wickets within 40 runs in the Mumbai ODI against Australia this year. Coming in at number five, Rahul led India to victory with an unbeaten innings of 75 runs. Earlier, Rahul also scored an unbeaten 64 to lead India to victory in the Kolkata ODI against Sri Lanka earlier in the year. Chasing 216 runs in that match too, India lost 4 wickets for 86 runs. That’s when Rahul came in and took over and got the win. Due to this quality he has been selected in the team.
The balance of the team is good because of Rahul
Apart from this, Rahul’s presence in the team provides an opportunity to introduce an additional batsman or bowler in the playing XI. Because he plays two roles i.e. wicketkeeper and batsman. This improves the balance of the team. Rahul Dravid did the same for India in the 2003 World Cup and then the team reached the final. For all these reasons the selectors have taken a big bet on Rahul.
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Tags: Asia Cup, Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Team India, World Cup 2023
First published: September 05, 2023, 15:20 IST