KL Rahul falls for golden duck against England Lions in fifth one day; faces backlash
The fact that India ‘A’ clearly dominated the unofficial ODI series against the Lions helped Rahul to retain his place.
It seems KL Rahul has found himself in an endless dark tunnel, longer than the one his Team India mate Hardik Pandya got stuck in. The Karnataka batsman was recently freed from the suspension he faced for making a controversial appearance on a TV show of filmmaker Karan Johar and allowed to play for India ‘A’ against the visiting England Lions.
But he got out for a golden duck in the fifth match of the one-day series played at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The opening batsman’s continuing woes on the ground renewed the barbs that he has been facing from the social media of late.
Rahul is having a dry run with the bat for a while now. In England last year, he had an ordinary run but somehow saved his place in the team with a century in the final innings at the Oval. But the batsman hasn’t delivered since then and in the recent T20I and Test series in Australia, he failed to make a single half-century and scored one in the only warm-up game that India played.
In the Tests, he was fortunate to continue since Prithvi Shaw got injured but yet failed to make the opportunity count. The 26-year-old batsman scored a meagre 57 runs in five innings in the Test series with the highest score of 44. He was still picked for the ODI series but could not play it eventually because of the ‘Koffee With Karan’ controversy.
Rahul in India ‘A’ squad for first unofficial Test
After the suspension was revoked, Rahul was picked for the last three ODIs against the England Lions and he scored 13 and 42 before falling for zero on Thursday, getting bowled by speedster Lewis Gregory in the very first ball of the match. The batsman was also included in the India ‘A’ side for the first unofficial Test against the visiting England team which will be played in Wayanad, Kerala, from February 7 to 10.
The fact that India ‘A’ clearly dominated the unofficial ODI series against the Lions helped Rahul to retain his place but the batsman now needs to pull up his socks if he fancies the chance to return to the Indian team where a number of in-form youngsters have queued for up a spot.
Here are some reactions that Rahul faced after his golden duck in the fifth unofficial ODI
Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.
Download Our App