After enjoying a great white ball campaign, which include the T20 World Cup triumph, Team India are ready for a busy red ball schedule. The team will engage in as many as 10 Tests, starting with the home series against Bangladesh that gets underway from September 19 at Chepauk. The Rohit Sharma-led unit had already assembled at Chennai last week and preparations for the series are underway in great swing.
The BCCI has only announced the squad for the opening Test and it'll be interesting to see who makes it to the playing XI. While there are are a few faces who directly walk into the XI, there are a lot of suspense about others, which also include star India batter KL Rahul.
The right-handed batter is regarded as one of the finest talent but blinding streaks of brilliance interspersed with gloomy barrenness has always presented his case to be a curious one. He has been lauded from several section, while there have been naysayers and it will be up to Rohit and new head coach Gautam Gambhir to decide if the 32-year-old walks into the playing XI or not.
While we'll probably have to wait till Thursday to find out the answer to it, the Indian skipper did share his chain of thoughts regarding the batter in the pre-match press conference held earlier on Tuesday. "I think with KL, the kind of quality he has, everyone knows about it. The kind of message that has been given to him from our side was very simple: we wanted him to play all games. We want him to bring the best out of him. And it is our duty as well to bring the best out of him," said the Indian skipper.
"It's important that we give him that clear message that this is what we expect from you. And I think we have done that," he added.
If we look at Rahul's recent outings in Test cricket, he scored a century against South Africa in Centurion in 2023 and scored a brilliant 86 against England at Hyderabad earlier this year. However, there was also series of struggle with the batter managing just a solitary half century in the 12 innings before that. But with the caliber instore in him, the captain feels his ability to tackle pace and spin equally well makes him an asset, both at home and away conditions.
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"He got 100 in South Africa. He got 80 in that first Test match in Hyderabad and then got injured. Unfortunately, he didn't play any of the games after that because of that injury. I hope, you know, he continues from where he left in Hyderabad. He's got the game to play the spin, and the seamers. So, I don't see any reason why he can't flourish in Test cricket. Obviously, the opportunities are there now," the captain said.
Perhaps, that reality has dawned on Rahul too as reports emerged of him grinding out at the nets polishing his skills against various challenges – spin and pace – on different surfaces inside the MA Chidambaram Stadium and at nets just outside the venue. And if things go right, it could well be Rahul's time to produce that breakaway series and seal his spot in the middle-order.
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