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Cricket Players'Ye deserve hi nahi karte. Bahaana kuch bhi nahi hai...': Ex-Pakistan captain's one-liner on KL Rahul vs Shubman Gill
The former Pakistan captain had a savage one-liner when he was asked about KL Rahul's lean patch during the Test series against Australia.
Team India secured a convincing win over Australia in the second Test of the four-match series, taking an unassailable 2-0 lead. The side defeated Australia by six wickets in Delhi; the visitors produced a relatively strong performance from the opening match in Nagpur, but Indian spinners turned the game on its head on the morning of Day 3, bowling Australia out to mere 113 after the visitors started the day on 61/1.
However, even as India produced a dominant performance, one of the biggest talking points was KL Rahul's poor form in the series. In three innings across the two Tests, Rahul had scores of 20, 17 and 1. There have been debates over Rahul's place in the Indian XI and last week, two former Indian cricketers – Venkatesh Prasad and Aakash Chopra – had an argument over the same, with the former being in favour of Rahul being dropped.
Following the Test, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif was also asked about Rahul's poor form; however, he had a rather sarcastic remark on the same. Referring to Shubman Gill – another Indian opener who remained on the bench in both matches so far – the anchor on Latif's official YouTube channel asked if Team India should continue with Rahul.
“Ye (Rahul) deserve hi nahi karte Shubman Gill ke hote hue. Bahaana kuch bhi nahi hai, bas inho ko khilaana hai. (Rahul doesn't even deserve a spot in the XI when Shubman Gill is there. There is no excuse here. The management just want to play him (Rahul),” Latif said.
After the win, Indian captain Rohit Sharma backed Rahul amid a series of failures. “Of late, there has been a lot of talk about his batting. For us, as team management, we always look at the potential of any individual, not just KL. I was asked in the past about a lot of players. If a guy has potential, he will get an extended run. Not just KL. If you look at the couple of hundreds he got, especially at Lord's, batting on that damp pitch. Centurion was another win. Both came in India winning both games. That's the potential he has,” Rohit had said in the press conference on Sunday.
After a 10-day break, India and Australia will square off in the third Test in Indore on March 1.
