I have no doubt that KL Rahul has got quality and ability: Rahul Dravid

With every passing game, KL Rahul is only justifying the selectors’ decision to not send him to New Zealand for the upcoming T20I series. After coming out of suspension which was imposed on him and Hardik Pandya for the Koffee with Karan fiasco, Rahul had to join the India A side while Pandya was asked to join the national team in New Zealand. And Rahul is doing nothing to prove that the selectors and the team management’s decision was wrong.

He had a disastrous Test series in Australia where he scored 2, 44, 2, 0 and 9 in three Tests. And any hopes of seeing him churning out runs again is fast fading away with every passing day. He scored 13 in his comeback game against the England Lions before scoring a promising 42. But on Thursday (January 31), he endured another setback. Rahul was out on the first ball of the match in the fifth and final one-day match in Thiruvananthapuram. Out of form, Rahul had no answer to a swinging delivery from Lewis Gregory.

But while Rahul’s form is showing no signs of improving, India A head coach Rahul Dravid has insisted he is not worried about the batsman’s form. “He (KL) got a good first ball today as it seamed. I have no doubt that he has got quality and ability. He is playing four-day games as well and he has shown that he can succeed at the international level in all three formats,” Dravid told reporters after India A won the five-match series 4-1 against England Lions.

“He has got a hundred in T20, ODI and Test and not many batsmen have that record. He is a proven performer and I am not too worried about his form,” the India A coach added. India A, meanwhile, lost the game by one wicket after managing just 121 runs on a tough batting track.

Purpose of playing for India A

Dravid further spoke on what purpose does playing for India A serves. In the hindsight, it is more or less clear that India A is a platform for rising players to prove themselves and earn the tickets to the senior team. However, the selectors included proven players like Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari and Rahul in the side.

When asked about it, Dravid said, “India A is always a combination of two things. There’s always some players coming in from India (senior national team) and there are some other senior boys selectors want to see. They are looking at players from a short-term perspective and there are other boys they are looking at medium and long term perspective. India A is a balance of both.”

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