Team India is playing their second Test against New Zealand at the Maharashtra Cricket Association, Stadium, Pune and one big shocker for all the fans and cricket pundits is that star batter KL Rahul has been benched.
Star Batter KL Rahul Made To Sit Out In 2nd Test
The New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and decided to bat first, Matt Henry who was the key bowler for the Kiwis will be sitting out due to minor niggle,. But Team India on the other hand made three changes and decided to drop Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav. Instead of these India brough in Shubman Gill, Akashdeep and Washington Sundar.
Rahul’s Poor Show In 1st Test Against NZ
India clearly struggled in the first Test as the batting lineup crumbled in the first innings and India were all out at a mere score of 46, over there KL Rahul was dismissed for a duck. In the second innings Team India tried to make a comeback and to a certain extent they redeemed themselves as Virat Kohli scored an elegant 70, Rishabh Pant scored 99 and missed his century by one run while Sarfaraz Khan emerged to bestar of the show as he hit an explosive 150 but KL Rahul again failed to score runs and managed to hit just 12 runs.
KL Rahul Benched Due To Inconsistent Form?
This performance has taken KL Rahul under tight scrutiny, as he has been very inconsistent. Since the time KL Rahul has been shifted to the middle order he has registered the scores of 101, 4, 8, 86, 22, 116, 22*, 68, 0 and 12. The scores clearly reflect that despite having potential to go ig KL Rahul has been seen on backfoot.
Now that KL Rahul has been out he’ll get time to reflect back on his game and try to find in the loopholes that have brought him here at this position.
Also Read: IND Vs NZ, 2nd Test: Will KL Rahul Be Benched? Sanjay Manjrekar Weighs In
KL Rahul’s Test Career: He has scored 2981 runs in 53 matches this includes 8 centuries and 15 half-centuries.
IND Vs NZ: Playing XI
Team India Playing XI: R Sharma (c), Y Jaiswal, V Kohli, R Pant (wk), S Gill, S Khan, R Jadeja, R Ashwin, A Deep, W Sundar, J Bumrah.
New Zealand Playing XI: T Latham (c), D Conway, W Young, R Ravindra, D Mitchell, T Blundell (wk), G Phillips, T Southee, M Santner, W O’Rourke, A Patel.
