'I don't think he has even led Karnataka': Gavaskar gives his verdict on Rahul's captaincy; 'He didn't know where to go'
Gavaskar used strong words for the 29-year-old, saying that at times, Rahul looked clueless when Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen were bludgeoning the Indian attack at Boland Park, but at the same time sounded optimistic of it getting better with time.
KL Rahul is new to captaining the Indian team. Although he has the experience of leading Punjab Kings in the IPL, Rahul doesn’t have great returns to show for it. To make matters worse, India lost both matches under him – suffering defeats in the second Test in Johannesburg and the 1st ODI in Paarl on Wednesday. Is Rahul the right choice to lead India in the future is something? That is up for debate.
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Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is currently not too impressed with Rahul’s leadership skills. In fact, Gavaskar used strong words for the 29-year-old, saying that at times, Rahul looked clueless when Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen were bludgeoning the Indian attack at Boland Park, but at the same time sounded optimistic of it getting better with time.
"Well, when there is a partnership, sometimes the captain goes out of ideas. I think that is what happened. This was a very good pitch to bat on. The ball was coming onto the bat quite nicely, you can play through the line," Gavaskar said on India Today
"During that partnership, it did look as if he had run out of ideas. KL Rahul didn't know where to go. when you have your two-most experienced death-overs bowlers in Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar, you have to keep them for the last 5-6 overs. So that's where you can actually stop the opposition from running away with a big score. But these are early days of his captaincy and maybe things will turn around, let's hope for Indian cricket's sake that things turn around in the next couple of days."
Gavaskar brought light that Rahul's experience as captain isn’t much. In the IPL, Rahul has captained the Punjab Kings in two seasons, with the franchise finishing sixth on both 2020 and 2021 editions. Additionally, he hasn’t led a team in either Ranji Trophy or List-A cricket. All these factors point towards the fact that Rahul’s stint as leader is not going to be easy.
"Rahul doesn't have much experience of captaincy. He has only captained Punjab Kings in the last two IPLs. Apart from that, in any format tournament - Ranji Trophy or List A. That's why you need to have patience when you think of him as captain. Even if you look at his captaincy in IPL, Punjab Kings haven't done anything on note in the last two years," pointed out Gavaskar.
