While Karnataka cruised to an eight-wicket victory over Puducherry is one of the quarter-finals, Delhi lost by six wickets to Gujarat via VJD Method in another last-eight clash.

Kumble, who has recently been appointed as the head coach of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab for the impending IPL season next year, reckons that out-of-favour Test batsman Rahul is still a good T20I batsman and that he wants him to notch up match-winning performances in the format.

  "Happy birthday you fool, always got your back. Happiness, love and some brain cells this year," wrote Rahul on Instagram while also sharing a picture of the two. 

Rahul is currently playing for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and has been in good form, hitting a century and a half-century in his four innings so far.

Rahul and Bumrah are not part of the Indian squad currently participating in the three-match Test series against South Africa. While Bumrah has been ruled out because of a stress fracture, Rahul has been excluded from the squad owing to his poor form in the longer format.

KL Rahul scored an impressive century for Karnataka in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Kerala.

The Vijay Hazare Trophy kickstarts today as a number of Team India regulars, including Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Yuzvendra Chahal will be in action.

Iyer was preferred over Rahul in the three ODIs against the West Indies and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands by scoring two half-centuries in the two games he played.

BCCI chief selector MSK Prasad stated that Rahul is a talented cricketer but because of his poor form in red-ball cricket, he has been dropped for the upcoming Test series beginning October 2.

Rohit Sharma benefits from KL Rahul's loss, and both now find themselves at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran, a prolific performer at the domestic and India A games, could be rewarded with a place in the side as a reserve opener, if the selection committee decides to drop Rahul.

Rohit Sharma, who sat out in both the Test matches in the recently-concluded tour to West Indies, may now be considered for an opening role in the longest format of the game.

Sourav Ganguly had said earlier that Rohit is too good a player to sit on the bench and with Rahul struggling, India should look at Rohit to find a solution at the top of the order.

KL Rahul's place in the team has been questioned due to his failure to own the opening slot despite being given a long rope by the team management.

Sourav Ganguly felt that fixing the problem with the opening slot is the need of the hour for India in longest format of the game.

Athiya Shetty has long been linked up with Indian cricketer KL Rahul, though none of them have openly addressed the rumours.

KL Rahul on Tuesday shared a picture on social media in which he can be seen enjoying along with skipper Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Indian opener KL Rahul made promising starts in both the innings of the first Test against West Indies but failed to prolong his time at the crease. However, he remains optimistic about his batting.

Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul are the only two openers India have selected in their squad for the two-match Test series against West Indies.

Indian batsman KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya were involved in a controversy during the beginning of the year for their comments on Karan Johar's show, and the former has now broken his silence on what transpired in his life after the show was aired.