India vs Bangladesh: Dinesh Karthik backs KL Rahul, points at good form before in England and South Africa

Indian opener and stand-in captain KL Rahul gets the backing of teammate Dinesh Karthik, who said too much is read into his current form during the India vs Bangladesh Test series.

Rahul has scored 22, 23, 10, and 2 over four innings in the two-match Test series in Bangladesh, with the final match being played in Dhaka. This has raised questions over his selection for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series against Australia at home (From 9 February) as experts suspect the opener may lose his spot once Rohit Sharma returns from injury.

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However, Karthik said the team management needs to back the 30-year-old batter as he has scored runs in England and South Africa prior to the Bangladesh tour.

“Let’s look at the recent past. Before these two Bangladesh Tests, three against South Africa, four against England that he played,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz. “In those 7 Tests, he’s got two centuries and two fifties and those are in away conditions. These are tough conditions to play in, so as a support staff of the Indian team when you look at him, you know he’s got the skill. He’s not going through the best of times at this point, and you got to back him.”

Karthik further added that Rahul will surely play against Australia but if he fails to score in that series then he will surely be in trouble.

“He’s the captain of the Indian team and you can’t let go of him easy. I think, he will definitely start the Australian series, and if things don’t go well there, that is where the questions will start to arise in a much bigger manner,” the 37-year-old wicket-keeper said.

Trying to understand Rahul’s mindset as a batter, Karthik felt the opener is under pressure as there was a lot happening in his mind.

“Look, I think we have to understand the mindsets of batters. Right now, there’s a lot happening in his mind. He’s the captain, he hasn’t got the volume of runs he wants. He is under pressure, he is tentative when he starts to bat. This happens to a lot of batters, literally every batter who plays for the country. You go through a spell where you find the runs hard to come by,” said Karthik.

“It could be the new ball, you feel the conditions are made for batting, sometimes you don’t get to runs, and everyday the mind keeps throwing doubts at you and it gets bigger and bigger. In his case, he’s tentative, he’s not very committed to the front foot. He’s hanging back, hoping that the ball would turn and he could play the ball. But at times, he is trying to make an effort to play.

“It’s not a technical error, there’s a lot happening for KL Rahul at the moment.”

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