3 reasons why KL Rahul shouldn't be included in the World Cup squad

With the series win in Australia and a victory in the first two ODI against New Zealand, India’s playing XI for their World Cup in England and Wales is almost finalized and the real competition is for the last four spots. KL Rahul has been a notable absentee from the touring ODI squad which is taking on New Zealand as we speak and his exclusion is more or less, justified.

Since the start of 2018, KL has exposed a large chunk of falling machinery off his technique and he still hasn’t rectified. Needless to say, his performances have been disappointing as well. As an opener, Rahul hasn’t done well with not providing the starts that his team requires. Looking at India’s quest for ICC CWC 2019, it might not be a bad move to exclude the 26-year-old from the 15-man squad. Let’s have a look at 3 reasons why.

1. Reserve opener in Shaw/Gill

If KL was the flop in 2018, the teen prodigy, Prithvi Shaw was definitely the find of 2018 for India. Playing his first Test series against Windies, Shaw won the Man of the Series award and scored a century in his first Innings. KL Rahul is a reserve opener in the ODI set-up and with Shaw delivering on a consistent basis and that too at a quick rate, it might be better to leave Rahul out.

In Australia where the ball doesn’t move around much, Rahul couldn’t deliver and his performances in England were dismal, to say the least. Benching either of Rohit or Dhawan is a very bad idea as both of these Stalwarts are big-game players and are known to deliver on big stages, consistently. KL was picked for the Asia Cup and his performances in that series weren’t too great either.