'How long can you ignore Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill's legitimate claims?': Ex-India manager to Rohit and Dravid
It's not like India did not have options to replace KL Rahul in 2018 but they were perhaps not of the quality of Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw. Murali Vijay had just been replaced by Rahul himself and Shikhar Dhawan's Test career was also witnessing a downward curve.
There are reports suggesting that KL Rahul would make way for Shubman Gill at the top of the order for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Indore starting March 1. The Indian team management, however, haven't given any indication of that sort whatsoever. Yes, Rahul has been removed as the vice-captain of the side for the remaining two Tests but captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid both backed the opener. In largely similar reactions to questions on Rahul, both Dravid and Rohit highlighted the Karnataka cricketer's impactful knocks in overseas conditions.
Rohit and Dravid are not wrong. Rahul has centuries in Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies - the only Indian Test opener after Virender Sehwag to score centuries in all those countries. But it's what the right-hander has done in between those jaw-dropping hundreds that has become a cause of concern. Rahul has never backed up a three-figure score with a significant contribution. The result shows in his overall Test average of 33 after 47 Tests.
This is not the first time the Indian team management has shown unshakeable faith on Rahul. In the 2018 England tour, the right-hander had scores of 4, 13, 8, 23, 36, 19, and 0 in four Test matches. Then captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri still picked him for the fifth and final Test and the classy right-hander delivered with a sublime century in the second innings at The Oval.
Former Tamil Nadu player Sunil Subramaniam, who was India’s manager and a part of Ravi Shastri’s think-tank in the 2018 series, said, five years ago it was a different situation. Rahul was a youngster and needed backing. "You should realize that Rahul, at that stage, was a youngster...but now it’s significantly different," he told The Times of India.
It's not like India did not have options at that time but they were perhaps not of the quality of Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw. Murali Vijay had just been replaced by Rahul himself and Shikhar Dhawan's Test career was also witnessing a downward curve. There were no immediate replacements in the domestic circuit. Gill and Shaw were too young and Agarwal hadn't quite set the Ranji Trophy alight.
"There are players like Shubhman who are just not knocking, but banging on the door. And then there’s Prithvi Shaw as well. How long can you ignore legitimate claims?” he asked.
It will be interesting to see what the answer is from Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid as India look to seal the series by winning the third Test.