IND vs AUS: KL Rahul needs to ‘take a break,’ says Kris Srikkanth

Former cricketer Kris Srikkanth has suggested struggling India opener KL Rahul to ‘take a break’ from playing cricket amid his poor run of form.

Rahul endured scores of 20 in the first Test in Nagpur, and 17 and 1 in the second Test against Australia in Delhi, and, following a string of low scores with the bat, his future in India’s Test setup remains uncertain.

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Despite his underwhelming performance, Rahul retained his place in Team India squad for the third and fourth Tests against Australia, but has lost his vice-captaincy role in the team. Rahul’s last Test half-century came in January 2022 against South Africa in Johannesburg.

Srikkanth, a former selector, said he had ‘tremendous admiration’ for the 30-year-old but added, had he been the chairman of selectors currently, he would have asked Rahul to take a break.

“I have tremendous admiration for the class of Rahul, in fact I call him Rolls Royce Rahul… but it is just not happening for him at the moment. If I was the chairman of selectors, I would have gone up to him and told him to take a break for a while,” the 63-year-old was quoted as saying by the Times of India.

Srikkanth also went onto say that Shubman Gill, who has proven himself in limited-overs, should play the third Test in Indore.

“But with all due respect to Rahul, it is time to play Shubman. You can’t keep a player waiting when he is in the form of his life,” the 1983 World Cup-winner added.

The former Tamil Nadu cricketer added that he hardly found technical errors in Rahul’s batting.

“I cannot pinpoint a technical deficiency in his game at the moment. I think this is more mental and all Rahul needs to do is take a break and sort his mind out. There’s no reason why he can’t come back with all guns blazing,”Srikkanth commented.

India won the second Test in Delhi by six wickets, chasing down a target of 115 on the third day, and currently enjoy a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. With the win, the hosts not only edged closer towards the World Test Championship final, but also retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The third Test starts in Indore from 1 March.

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