"KL Rahul sitting out was a big surprise" - Kamran Akmal indirectly calls Gautam Gambhir 'nonsense'

Former Pakistan cricketer Kamran Akmal talked about India's decision to drop KL Rahul from the team for the last ODI against Sri Lanka National Cricket Team. He said that they should've dropped Shivam Dube instead of keeper-batter as their batting would've gotten even stronger.

India National Cricket Team faced a terrible loss to Sri Lanka in the third ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Not only did they lose the game by the massive margin of 110 runs, but they also went on to lose the three-match series by the margin of 2-0 for the first time since 1997.

One of the major things that has come under the scanner is India's team selection for the final ODI. Head coach Gautam Gambhir was criticized a lot for dropping KL Rahul from the XI of the game and instead going with Rishabh Pant, who had a horrible game.

KL Rahul has been India's best batter in the ODIs in the middle order. The keeper-batter has been consistently scoring runs for the team. He was one of the backbones for the team in the ICC World Cup 2023 and his average in the middle order has been astonishing.

In the series against Sri Lanka, Rahul struggled to get going with the bat. The keeper-batter scored 31 runs off 43 balls in the first game and then followed it up with a duck in the second game. But with the batting he has displayed over the last couple of years, many expected him to be backed.

The move to play Rishabh Pant over Rahul didn't work for India. The left-hander had a terrible outing with the gloves and also failed to get going with the bat. He batted at No.4 and managed just 6 runs. Despite being a left-hander, he failed to tackle spin and went in the process to take the attack on.

In the chase of 249 runs, India got all out for 138 runs. They lost the game by a massive margin of 110 runs and went on to lose the series, facing criticism for the kind of batting display they showed.

KL Rahul sitting out is a big surprise for me - Kamran Akmal

Kamran Akmal wasn't happy with India's decision to drop KL Rahul from the XI. He said that keeper-batter not playing came as a big surprise for him. He stressed that management could've taken some other decision but should've let him play. Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained:

"KL Rahul sitting out is a big surprise for me. He was an opener, you made him play as wicketkeeper, gave him batting at 8th number. I don't think it was a sensible decision to drop him. If you had to sit, you could have made Dube sit. You could have made the spinner bowl at the other end with new ball.

"You would've used Axar Patel along with a fast bowler, If would've used Riyan Parag, you would have played KL Rahul easily. So I think your batting lineup would have been strong," he concluded.