KL Rahul, a middle-order batsman, came under fire from former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar on Thursday for his lackluster performance on the first day of the Chennai Test.
Rahul was sent back to the pavilion with a strike rate of 30.77 after only managing 16 runs off 52 balls. At 144 for the side, he was removed by right-arm spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the 43rd over of the inning. He was the sixth wicket to fall.
It makes perfect sense that they choose KL Rahul because of his experience, sophistication, and recent performance, which included a century in South Africa and an 80 in the one Test match he played against England. But this is the tale of KL Rahul. It’s incredible how he plays a magnificent performance at the Test level and then seems to have a pair in the last two or three innings. Manjrekar said, as cited by ESPNcricinfo, “Even when you saw him bat today, it almost seemed like an inning without purpose.”
Furthermore, Manjrekar said that Rahul’s inability to produce runs for his team in the longest format of the game is due to a temperamental issue with him while batting.
“That is more of a temperamental problem with KL Rahul that has plagued him for 50 Test matches because the numbers that he has, while he has got some brilliant hundreds, an average of 34 with quite a few 100s in testing conditions tells you about his temperament, which we got a look at today as well,” the former right-handed batsman stated.
In the first Test of the two-match series against India, which was played in Chennai, Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl.
India was battling at 34/3 as their top-order fell apart. India entered the game as opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (56 in 118 balls, nine fours) and Rishabh Pant (39 in 52 balls, six fours) stitched together a 62-run stand for the fourth wicket. Nevertheless, when India was reduced to 144/6, Ashwin and Jadeja (86* in 117 balls, with 10 fours and 2 sixes) put up an undefeated 195-run stand to seal the victory with 339/6.
Bangladesh’s best spinner, Hasan Mahmud (4/58), destroyed the Indian top order, dismissing Virat Kohli (6), Shubman Gill (0), and captain Rohit Sharma (6).
