Irfan Pathan Questions Selectors' Decision Of Not Picking KL Rahul In Squad For New Zealand Tests
Published - 05 Feb 2020, 07:41 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 06:36 AM

Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his surprise over KL Rahul not being named in the Test squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand. India will play a two-Test series against the Black Caps, starting on February 21. Speculations were rife that KL Rahul would earn a recall due to his stunning form in limited-overs cricket and Rohit Sharma???s injury.
However, the selectors decided against recalling him and instead recalled Prithvi Shaw to replace Rohit Sharma in the team. The other two openers in the recently-announced squad are Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill. With KL Rahul being in such form, the selectors??? decision to ignore him has indeed surprised many and Irfan Pathan is not an exception either.
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KL Rahul last played a Test for India on the tour of West Indies last year. Since then, he has been in stunning form in white-ball cricket. He has averaged in excess of 50 with the bat in his last ten T20I innings. The right-handed batsman finished the just-concluded T20I series against New Zealand as the highest run-getter and bagged the Player of the Series award.

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 he could not earn a recall. And just like the fans, Irfan Pathan is also surprised with the selectors??? decision. The ex-cricketer took to Twitter to question the decision, writing:
???I???m sure I???m not the only one who is surprised not to see @klrahul11 name in the test squad.???
Meanwhile, India have named an expected squad for the New Zealand Tests. Barring the recall of Prithvi Shaw to replace an injured Rohit, there is no other big change.
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).