Former India and Karnataka pacer Dodda Ganesh wasn’t pleased when the India team management, spearheaded by head coach Gautam Gambhir, decided to give KL Rahul a break for the third and final ODI against Afghanistan at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Ganesh said that Rahul played just 20 balls in the three-match series, so there was no reason to give the wicketkeeper-batter a rest.
Rahul played 19 balls in the series opener, and he remained unbeaten on 39, helping India cruise home with seven wickets in hand in the rain-curtailed match. However, he was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the next ODI in Lucknow.
In place of Rahul, Ishan Kishan was seen donning the wicketkeeping gloves in the third and final ODI. However, he didn’t get a chance to bat, as Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer got the job done, and the Men in Blue cruised home to register a 3-0 series win.
“KL Rahul didn’t need this rest. He’s played only 20 balls in the series. Absolutely makes zero sense,” Ganesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Speaking of the three-match series, skipper Shubman Gill was adjudged as Player of the Series for his haul of 238 runs. However, the India skipper didn’t bat in the final ODI as Shreyas Iyer was promoted up the batting order.
What did Gill say
After the series win, Gill was a pleased captain, saying his team ticked all the right boxes and he is extremely happy with the performance.
“Yeah, definitely. I think the first spell bowled by Gurnoor and Prasidh was outstanding to see that kind of pace in those conditions was not easy, but I think they kept putting their effort and kept pushing,” said Gill.
“I think a lot of the boxes are ticked. We spoke about keeping the intensity in the middle overs, and some of the things we discussed were how we can keep creating those opportunities in the middle overs as a bowling unit and as a batting unit, and how we can keep pushing for the extra runs in the middle overs. And I think a lot of those boxes were ticked,” he added.
India’s next ODI assignment will now be against England, and the three-match series will be played in July.
“Going to England, the conditions would be a little bit more similar to what we get in South Africa, not quite similar, but still close to that. So the kind of combination that we would be looking to play there, hopefully we have all the players fit and ready, it is going to be another great series for us,” said Gill.