India, led by Shubman Gill, faced another ODI series defeat as the Men in Blue went down in the three-match series against England. The defeat has once again put the spotlight on KL Rahul’s usage. The right-handed batter played just two games in the series as he missed out on the Cardiff ODI due to illness. Former India and Karnataka pacer Dodda Ganesh is not pleased with the management regarding how Rahul was constantly pushed down to No.6 in the batting order.
On Monday, Ganesh took to social media to voice concerns about Rahul, saying it doesn’t make sense for the batter to play at No.6, as he has a strong record batting at No.5.
In the two ODIs Rahul played against England, he returned with scores of 1 and 12. In the series decider, the experienced batter failed to get the job done as India fell 27 runs short of chasing down the total of 388.
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Rahul hit a couple of boundaries before being castled by Jofra Archer, and the batter walked back with a visible disappointment on his face.
“KL Rahul, after owning no 5 with unreal numbers, being pushed to no 6 looks something like this. Absolute waste of a genuine batter #ENGvIND,” Ganesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Rahul replaced Sundar
For the Lord’s ODI, Rahul replaced Washington Sundar in the playing XI after the all-rounder was ruled out of the decider due to an injury. In the third and final ODI, Rahul also didn’t keep the wickets as Ishan Kishan donned the gloves.
After Rahul failed to get the job done, he became a subject of social media trolling. However, Ganesh came to the batter’s rescue, saying it’s unfair to blame him time and time again.
“The reason KL Rahul faces so much hate and bullying online despite his unreal numbers and versatility in ODIs, is accounts like these,” said Ganesh.
“The game was practically over by the time KL came to bat at no 6; but who gets the blame? It’s KL again. At this rate, KL could be even blamed for Indian diplomatic relations with the rest of the world,” he added.
Rahul will next be seen in action in the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, beginning August 15. Recently, he had smashed a century in the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Mullanpur.