Ranji Trophy 2017/18: KL Rahul Fails, Mohammed Siraj Shines

After being ousted from the One-Day International team for the ongoing show against New Zealand, KL Rahul could not show that the selectors’ decision was wrong as he failed to deliver in the ongoing Ranji Trophy game against Hyderabad at  KSCA Navule Stadium, Shimoga.

As usual, the right-handed batsman opened the innings for Karnataka and took 26 balls to score 4 runs before being cleaned up by Ravi Kiran. Rahul, who has been named in the T20I and Test team for the upcoming series, had showed form in the practise game when he scored a fifty for Board President’s XI against New Zealand but could not deliver against Hyderabad.

On the other hand, Mohammed Siraj, who recently earner his maiden India call up for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand, lived up to the expectations by rocking Karnataka’s top-order. The right-arm pacer dismissed Ravikumar Samarth and Mayank Agarwal as Karnataka were reeling at 81 for 4 at lunch.

Meanwhile, the latest failure will be a big blow for Rahul who is desperately trying to get back to the ODI team. After his sizzling form in Test cricket, he was tried out in the middle-order during the series against Sri Lanka but he failed to make the chances count. He got opportunities at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 in the ODIs but managed only 4, 17 and 7, perishing to offspinner Akila Dananjaya all three times before being dropped. He was retained in the squad for the series against Australia but failed to make the cut for the ongoing series.

India skipper Virat Kohli recently said that team no longer wants to try Rahul in the middle and is seeing him as an opener.

“This series, Dinesh Karthik has come in for KL. We felt KL, because he opens mostly, we don’t want to have a situation like Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) was going through in between – having to play in the middle order forcefully because of what the top order was doing,” Kohli said. “We thought it’s better that he (Rahul) gets some game time in the first-class level so we got in Dinesh who has always played in the middle order. He is more comfortable and more aware of how to bat in the middle order. We need to strike that good balance, bring in guys who have the ability, who have done well in domestic cricket, who have done well for India A, you know track their performances and give them chances accordingly.

“It’s not a situation where you just start giving chances to people so much that you compromise on winning the series because of lack of experience. We need to strike that good balance regularly,” he had added.