Former Indian cricketer and selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth said he calls Indian batter KL Rahul a Rolls Royce and he has a lot of admiration for him. However, he suggests the opener should take a break amidst his poor run of form in recent times.
Speaking to ToI, Srikanth said, “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.”
Rahul is averaging 12.67 for the 2023 calendar year. The 30-year-old has crossed the 20-run mark only once in three innings against Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Srikkanth feels that opener Shubman Gill needs to be picked in place of Rahul. “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,” he said.
Gill has been in blistering form this year slamming a double hundred against New Zealand in the ODIs and a ton against the same opponent in the T20I series later. Gill also registered his maiden Test match hundred in Bangladesh on a tricky spinning wicket in December.
“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,” the former cricketer added.