5 Players who can replace KL Rahul in Tests

When KL Rahul first burst on to the international scene, he seemed like a boom or bust sort of a player. He either scored big or nothing. However, it looked like India’s search for a reliable Test opener, especially overseas came to an end. Moreover, as Rahul grew in his international career, he became a lot more consistent as well.

In fact, the Karnataka batsman scored a string of fifties in the mega home season in 2016-17. However, once India toured away, he was found out. He failed to build on his good form in South Africa while he played five Tests before he got a ton in the last Test in England. His woes have continued in Australia and West Indies as well.

Since that 149 he scored at the Oval last year, Rahul’s highest Test score is 44. He has seriously struggled and has looked tentative every time he’s walked out to bat. Hence, with the home season starting, the 27-year-old opener might face the axe. Hence, here we look at five batsmen who can replace Rahul in Test cricket.

1. Abhimanyu Easwaran

Here is a player who has scored a lot of runs in first-class cricket. Abhimanyu Easwaran has been consistently getting runs in the Indian domestic circuit. It doesn’t matter which team he turns up to play for, be it Bengal, India ‘A’ or one of the Duleep Trophy sides, Easwaran just turns up and gets big scores.

The 23-year-old Bengal opener has had a couple of excellent Ranji seasons. In fact, last season, he topped the batting charts for Bengal as he averaged 95.66 while amassing 861 runs. He scored big hundreds and showed the hunger to bat long and bat big.

On the back of consistent performances for Bengal, Easwaran has constantly been in and around the India ‘A’ side. Even at that level, he’s scored a lot of runs. It was only a few months ago where he scored a fabulous double ton against Sri Lanka ‘A’. He played Duleep Trophy Final 2019 for India Red and smashed a 150+ score.

In fact, he even has a good 50-over record. He averages in excess of 50. Thus, Easwaran looks to be one of the favourites to seal Rahul’s spot if the latter is dropped.