KL Rahul
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently revealed India's squads for the much-awaited Australia tour, slated to commence once the on-going IPL edition gets wrapped up. All three squads saw many fresh faces as well as surprise omissions. While prominent names like Rohit Sharma went missing from the list, players like Mohammed Siraj and Varun Chakravarthy received a national call-up in the Test and T20I squad respectively.
Amid the tweaked squads and fresh faces, in-form KL Rahul hogged the limelight by returning into the Test side. The Karnataka stalwart had represented India in whites in August of last year. However, due to a string of low scores, he was eventually sidelined from the Test set-up.
The Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper, who is currently leading the list of highest run-scorers of IPL 2020, will be eyeing to transmit his form on the Australian soil too. However, Rahul's Test comeback has raised also raised a few eyebrows, mainly because of his selection on the basis of IPL performance.
Sanjay Manjrekar, through his official Twitter, disregarded the BCCI's decision to call Rahul into the Test side on the basis of his batting outings in the UAE. Contradicting Manjrekar's views, former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody believes that Rahul is a 'class' player who'll justify his selection.
“They have picked class. He may not have recent form in Test cricket. KL Rahul has class player,” Moody said in a conversation with ESPNCricinfo.
“They have selected someone who has experience Down Under. Not every player gets it right the first time. I think he is a three-format player. He can easily grab the Test cricket by the scruff of the neck and have an outstanding cricketer. We know he has the game; he just needs confidence in the same," he added.
Rahul's last expedition in Australia was rather a forgetful one, with him scoring just 57 runs from three Tests in the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Despite his topsy-turvy ride in the traditional format, Rahul has been a valuable asset to the limited-overs side, especially after the previous year's World Cup. The wicketkeeper-batsman was a crucial part of India's limited-overs squad which toured New Zealand earlier this year.
