'I'm happy for him. But if he'd played...': Srikkanth's blistering 'KL Rahul' remark in brutal Indore pitch assessment
Former Team India chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth added to the avalanche of criticism directed at the Indore track as he did not just lash out at hosts, but also made a blistering 'KL Rahul' remark in his assessment of the pitch.
The Indore pitch, where the third Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series was staged, has created quite a stir after it witnessed a seven-session game. Former cricketers like Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke, Dilip Vengsarkar went on a rant to express their displeasure after 30 wickets had fallen in the first two days of the match. However, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar did defend the pitch after ICC rated it "poor" and handed three demerit points. Former Team India chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth added to the avalanche of criticism directed at the Indore track as he did not just lash out at hosts, but also made a blistering 'KL Rahul' remark in his assessment of the pitch.
Rahul was dropped for the third Test between India and Australia after a poor stretch of run. He was replaced by you ng and in-form Shubman Gill, although the batter failed to make an impression with his performance in the match where India lost by nine wickets.
Srikkanth, speaking on his YouTube channel, did not make any comment on Gill's show in the third Test, but rather admitted that Rahul was dropped. He explained that had the India star featured in the Indore game, his career would have ended given the pitch where even Virat Kohli struggled to score runs.
"First and foremost, I am happy for KL Rahul. Thankfully, good that he did not play. If he had played on these wickets and failed to get going in the next two Tests, and if his career had ended... thank god, he didn't play. Frankly, speaking," he said.
"On these pitches, batting is very difficult. Whoever it is, batting is difficult. Let it be anybody, be it Virat Kohli, no one can score runs on these pitches. If you looked at it, Kuhnemann, bowling in the first innings, got the ball to rip through and turn square. On these wickets, taking wickets is not a big thing. Even if I had bowled, I would have picked up wickets. These are all hard talks, we have to accept them," he said.
Srikkanth then slammed hosts India for the pitches created in this series. He reminded that in 2008 contest against Australia, none were rank turners and yet India won by a 2-0 margin.
"Not a good advertisement for Test cricket at all. They are doing a mistake. Yes, if you see the 2008 series against Australia. The pitches weren't rank turners but India would win the series 2-0. But here, the ball is turning square from Day 1. It's hard to watch the batting on these pitches. It's not a good advertisement for Test cricket," he said.