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'I agree with India picking six bowlers, but they should have given Rahul one more game': Gautam Gambhir
Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir agrees with India's decision to play six bowlers and admitted that dropping Rahul was their only option to go with this strategy.
India made a hard call to drop KL Rahul from the final T20I against England at the Motera in Ahmedabad on Saturday to play six bowlers in the series decider. Rahul had been in poor form throughout the scores, scoring figures of 1, 0, 0 and 14 in four games.
The right-hander returned from an injury that kept him out of cricket for the past few months and struggled to return to the same form that he displayed in the past year.
But with the series on the line, the India camp made the hard call, which eventually worked in their favour. Captain Virat Kohli opened the innings and gave India a strong start with Rohit Sharma, while Indian bowlers brought the hosts back into the contest when it looked like Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler might win the game for the visitors.
Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir agreed with India's decision to play six bowlers and admitted that dropping Rahul was their only option to go with this strategy. Gambhir, though, still added that team India should have given him one more game as dropping him will not do the Karnataka batsman any favours.
"Dropping anyone will not do them any favour. He (Rahul) will have to play three ODIs. Someone is out of form, the only way you can bring them back is by giving them more opportunities," Gambhir said on ESPNCricinfo.
"Because when you are sitting on the bench, it is not a good feeling. Because you know you have been dropped, and that feeling is not the best feeling," he added.
"India went with six bowlers, I completely agree with that. Because India were always one bowler short. And the only way that could have been done was by dropping KL Rahul and picking a bowler. And that's what they have done," Rahul further added.
"But ideally, they should have given him another game. But they could not have fit him with six bowlers, had KL Rahul played this game," he signed off.
