Looking At His Current Form, KL Rahul Has To Be The Best Person To Open - Salman Butt

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has picked KL Rahul as injured Mayank Agarwal’s replacement as an opener for India’s first Test against England starting Wednesday at Trent Bridge.

After Shubman Gill had already been ruled out of the entire series, Agarwal the backup opener was set to make his return to the Test eleven. But a sustained concussion in a net session two days before the match via a blow from a bouncer by Mohammed Siraj has forced him to be benched from the Nottingham game.

Salman Butt opined that KL Rahul should be the batsman to bat at the top for multiple reasons. KL Rahul last played a Test match in September 2019, against West Indies before being replaced by Rohit Sharma. But Butt has observed that the right-hander has matured and made adjustments in his game.

He further pointed out that KL Rahul has been in terrific white-ball form since being dropped from the Test side, and that he is coming off a century in the warm-up match, albeit he batted in the middle-order in that game. Not to forget, he notched up a century on the 2018 tour in London.

“KL Rahul seems like a transformed cricketer. He has improved himself a lot and is a more mature cricketer now. He has fought his demons and worked on making additions to his game. KL Rahul has definitely showed improvement. As Sunil Gavaskar rightly pointed out, KL Rahul scored a hundred in the three-day game against County Select XI,” Salman Butt said in his YouTube video.

“During the last Test of India’s previous tour in 2018 as well, he had notched up a hundred. So keeping all these points in mind and looking at his current form, KL Rahul has to be the best person to open with Mayank Agarwal injured and Shubman Gill being ruled out. He has done a great job in one-day matches. So he will have the best mindset to open (among options available),” he added.

KL Rahul has the confidence, he’s the one who should open the batting: Sunil Gavaskar

Legendary India opener and captain Sunil Gavaskar had earlier opined that Rahul should be the one to replace Agarwal. He said that the 29-year-old is filled with confidence because of his supreme form whether in white-ball or red-ball cricket.

“KL Rahul scoring a hundred in the warm-up game, I think he should be the person who should open for India in the first Test. Also, on the back of a hundred, Rahul has the confidence, he’s the one who should open the batting,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by ANI.