KL Rahul is reportedly set to open alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran in India A's second unofficial match against Australia A in Melbourne, which begins on Thursday. The face-off is likely to help India head coach Gautam Gambhir to decide the ideal replacement for Rohit Sharma in the opening position as the captain is set to miss the first match of the Border-Gavaskar series in Perth on November 22.
According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, Rahul and Dhruv Jurel, who were sent early to Australia amid a lack of game time in the home season, will both be part of the four-day India A game. This means, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who opened in the first match against Australia A, will bat one down, while Ishan Kishan will have to give up his wicketkeeping duties to make way for Jurel.
Earlier, Easwaran was called up to the India Test squad as the replacement for Rohit, who is yet to confirm his availability for the opening Test match, on the back of a fabulous start to his red-ball campaign this season, where he scored four centuries in four consecutive matches across three series. However, Rahul's inclusion and potential decision to open in Melbourne could be down to the selectors once again not trusting the Bengal opener in big matches, having returned with scores of 7 and 12 in the opening India A game.
A revival for KL Rahul?
If Rahul impresses Gambhir with a good score for India A, it will mark a return to the top-order position for the Karnataka batter. He remains one of the only two Asian openers to have a century in the format in England, South Africa, and Australia, albeit with a not-so-good batting figure at the position—2551 runs in 75 innings at 34.94.
{{/usCountry}}If Rahul impresses Gambhir with a good score for India A, it will mark a return to the top-order position for the Karnataka batter. He remains one of the only two Asian openers to have a century in the format in England, South Africa, and Australia, albeit with a not-so-good batting figure at the position—2551 runs in 75 innings at 34.94.
{{/usCountry}}His journey as a middle-order specialist batter had begun with the 2023/24 tour of South Africa, after which he scored 339 runs in 10 innings at 37.66, which included a century in Centurion and two fifties.
Sarfaraz Khan's position under threat
The potential Rahul move could mean if Rohit does make himself available for the Perth game, he could replace Sarfaraz in the playing XI, who has fallen off the reckoning after scoring just 21 runs in the last four innings, including a duck after his majestic 150 against New Zealand in Bengaluru. Moreover, there has been increasing concern among experts over how or if his game style would at all suit Australian conditions.
Meanwhile, with Jurel also part of the India A game, a decent score could also see him replace Sarfaraz in the playing XI in Perth.