KL Rahul's poor form continues

Sabina Park, Jamaica: India vs West Indies 2nd Test, Opener KL Rahul's poor form continues as he failed to score runs on the 1st day of the second test match. While cricket fans trolled Virat Kohli for his favouritism towards the fellow opener by keeping him in the squad even after failing to convert big runs.

West Indies Captain Jason Holder won the toss and put India in to bat on the first day of the second test. India ended the day batting on 264/5 on Day one at Sabina Park, Jamaica. Invited to bat first, KL Rahul along with his partner Mayank Agarwal was expected to provide India with a solid start at the top. However, Rahul’s stay was cut-short by West Indies skipper Jason Holder who bowled a back of a length delivery that swings away late. KL Rahul opened up completely and leaves his bat hanging in front of his body, finding the outside edge.

Cricket fans were not seen pleased with poor performances from KL Rahul not just in this series but for a long time now. And Virat Kohli allowing his favorite player to cement his place in the squad despite poor performances across formats. KL Rahul played almost every test since 2017 on home and away tours and have failed in each and every tour whether home or away. 

Twitterati explode's with comments of biased captaincy on Kohli.

KL Rahul's last 20 test innings: 54,4,13,8,10,23,36,19,0,37,149,0,4,33*,2,44,2,0,9,44
Matches:10 ,Total: 491 runs ,50's:1 ,100's:1

On the basis of this he is still in the team?
Clear favoritism by Captain to keep his favorite player in the team.@vikrantgupta73 @BCCI

— Wickets11 (@Wickets111) August 23, 2019

KL Rahul is wasting opportunities. Very disappointing performance of KL. VK is giving too much opportunities to KL Rahul.

— Tech Lover (@akgarg2000) August 30, 2019

Give me any single reason for not taking Rohit Sharma . Please stop doing politics. It is not good for Indian team....

— Prabhat Dwivedi - BJP (@Prabhat51423858) August 22, 2019

KL Rahul in place of Rohit Sharma is like Redmi in place of I Phone 😀😀

— JAGANNATH (@jaggeee806) August 22, 2019

Another flop show from kl rahul whi is out of form and he is getting continuous chances and the man who is in form rohit sharma is not getting any chances ...what is your view point on this?@vikrantgupta73

— Mayank Goenka (@MayankGoenka11) August 30, 2019

Averaging Just 35 in Test Cricket, But For Selectors, He is A Bradman.
Rohit Sharma Average 40 in Test Cricket & Also has An Average Of 70 in Last Two Years in Test Cricket

KL Rahul - one of the most overrated batsman in test cricket !#INDvWI @GadhviLaxman pic.twitter.com/wo92uWLag3

— Prashant (@prashant_7_) August 30, 2019

After the disappointing performance in the first test KL Rahul responded  “Technique and everything is over-rated - when you get runs everything looks good. So it was important for me to spend time in the middle,” he said during a media conference.

And fans wonder this statement must be because of captain's biased nature towards the fellow cricketer and he always wonder he will be selected in the team even after low strings of scores. Which is pretty evident in his attitude as no other player than KL Rahul has been given such a long rope despite poor performances.

KL Rahul on tours of England and Australia
Source: Times of India

Many greats of the game have suggested Rohit Sharma to be turned an open in Test Cricket too. And it was right time for Rohit Sharma to display his true mantle in the longest format by opening the innings for India. 

Earlier, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has also expressed his suggestions for making best use of in-form Rohit in the longer format. Ganguly wanted Kohli to try the same trick with limited-overs deputy Rohit in red-ball cricket. While Rohit opens in ODIs, he bats in the middle-order in the longest format of the game.

Ganguly feels that it is important to let Rohit carry forward his good form that saw the batsman rule the roost during the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

Rohit Sharma has lately been in magnificent form in the limited-overs format and gave ample example of his splendid run during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.  With the omission of Rohit Sharma several fans have expressed their anger on Kohli’s selection policy for the Test series against West Indies.