Fans In Disbelief As India Ignore In-Form KL Rahul For New Zealand Tests

There was no place for KL Rahul in the Test team as India announced their squad for the upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand. Speculations were rife that KL Rahul would earn a recall in the Test team after Rohit Sharma suffered a calf injury during the fifth T20I against New Zealand.

KL Rahul has been in stunning form in white-ball cricket. In the T20I series against the Black Caps, he scored two fifties while his scores in the other three games read – 27, 39 and 45. However, his form in white-ball cricket made little difference as the selectors named Prithvi Shaw in the squad to replace Rohit Sharma.

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The other two openers in the team are Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill. Agarwal and Shaw now look set to open the innings while Gill is likely to be a backup opener. Only time will tell whether India’s decision to name three inexperienced openers in the team was right or not but for the time being, the fans are not impressed with the decision.

As soon as BCCI announced the squad on Twitter, hundreds of fans expressed their disbelief and disappointment over not seeing KL Rahul in the Test team. Rahul has not played a Test for India since being dropped after the tour of West Indies last year.

Here are some of the reactions to BCCI’s decision of not recalling KL Rahul to the Test team:

https://twitter.com/RahulDhere3/status/1224519653835149313

KL should be in the squad on his current form.

— Jagdish Khaire ?? (@Jagdish_Khaire7) February 4, 2020

pic.twitter.com/UaGinfQBe9

— Yashraj (@iamyashrajyadav) February 4, 2020

K.L Rahul ??..?? BCCI

— Abishek K.L (@KAbshek) February 4, 2020

Kl rahul missing ????????????????????????Why reason he is very good batsman and keeping also

— Dinesh Vasugi (@VasugiDinesh) February 4, 2020

You r going without experience at top in test it could be disaster for india @klrahul11

— Sunil Bhadu (@sunilbhadu1540) February 4, 2020

Very disappointed with this squad. Why KL Rahul is not in this Squad. All three Openers are inexperienced for Foreign Tour(NZ). In Absence of Rohit, KL Should be in this Squad.Also Bcoz of his current Form. Agree? Like for Agree And Retweet for Disagree.

— Kushal Kumar (@sahkushalkr) February 4, 2020

Is, not including @klrahul11, ignorance or arrogance of the selection committee ?

— Subbu (@kksubbu2003) February 4, 2020

Wher is @klrahul11 in that team….a player continuously playing his best cricket in the recent past and The Captain of this team @imVkohli himself admitted that @klrahul11 is a multidimensional player….so @BCCI u can’t ignore him or cut off him from the Team??

— Soumyajit Chowdhury (@imsoumyajit0309) February 4, 2020

Why not KL Rahul in the test squad ? KL Rahul is in very good form . KL Rahul should be in the test squad as a reserve opener batsman due to his current form

— Mayank Kumar (@MayankK78747162) February 4, 2020

The two-match Test series will start on February 21. India have won all of their seven Tests in the World Test Championship so far and will be looking to continue that winning run against the Black Caps. Before the Test series, India will also play three ODIs against the hosts.

India Test squad:

Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Ishant Sharma (subject to fitness clearance).