KL Rahul, eager to impress and earn a spot in the India XI for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, didn’t get off to the greatest of starts in his sojourn Down Under. Opening the batting for India A, the 32-year-old was dismissed for four as the side folded for 161 runs on the opening day of the four-day contest at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Having seen Michael Neser send Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan back to the pavillion, Rahul started strongly against Scott Boland. He got off the mark with a boundary, sending the ball towards the mid-on region. Three balls later, though, Boland pulled the length back and angled it into the off stump region and found the edge to send Rahul packing.
Neser, Australia’s Test backup seamer, was the destroyer-in-chief in the first innings, taking 4 wickets for 27 runs.
Dhruv Jurel scored 80 runs to salvage some pride for the visitors with runs also coming from Devdutt Padikkal (26) and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy (16).
Beau Webster took three wickets for Australia A as he ran through the lower order.
KL Rahul’s inconsistent form continues
With the latest single digit outing, KL Rahul’s hopes of sealing an India spot took a hit with the Perth Test starting in 15 days.
Dropped for the second and third Tests against New Zealand, Rahul needs to make a mark at the MCG if he is to win favour with the selectors, coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma.
Inconsistency, though, has put him down the pecking order. Rahul scored 38 and 68 in the two Bangladesh Tests and had produced 86 runs against England in Hyderabad. The last Test century, 101 runs, came versus South Africa at Centurion.
Prior to that knock, KL Rahul had gone past the 25-run mark only once in 12 innings.
KL Rahul’s Australia record
Since form is not on KL Rahul’s side, another factor that could bring him back into the XI is the record in Australia. The batter who can bat at the top of the order and in the middle, has played five Tests in Australia.
In the five Test matches played, he’s scored 187 runs at an average of 20.77 with a best of 110 runs at Sydney Cricket Ground in 2015.
Besides that century, KL has had meagre returns in Australia. In the seven other innings, KL Rahul has managed just 61 runs with a top score of 44 runs including six single digit scores.