I Am Not Too Worried About KL Rahul's Form: Rahul Dravid

KL Rahul is showing little signs of improving with the bat. His poor run with the bat started right after he scored a sizzling T20I century in England. He failed in the subsequent ODI series and the Test series although the 149-run knock in the final Test helped him retain his place in the Test squad.

However, he failed again, this time against Windies at home. The right-handed batsman managed to score just 37 runs in the two-Test series. But with other openers also not scoring runs, he managed to retain his place in the squad for the Australia Tests. But his poor form continued Down Under too. In five innings, he scored 2, 44, 2, 0 and 9 before the Koffee with Karan fiasco nearly derailed his cricket career.

The CoA had suspended him and Hardik Pandya pending an inquiry for their crass comments on the talk show. But later, the Supreme Court-appointed committee lifted the suspension, allowing the players to return to action. However, while Pandya was asked to join the Indian team in New Zealand, Rahul was told to join India A for the recently-concluded one-day series against England Lions. And it is safe to say that the selectors were not wrong.

Rahul has done little in the series to prove his point to the selectors. He scored 13 on his comeback before scoring 42 in the following game.  On Thursday (January 31), he did even and was out for a golden duck in the fifth game against England Lions in Thiruvananthapuram.

However, India A coach Rahul Dravid is not worried about the batsman’s form and feels that the right-hander has the quality and ability to play at the highest stage of the game.

“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.

Meanwhile, India A lost the last game by 1 wicket. Batting first, India A could manage only 121 before England Lions chased it down with just one wicket remaining.