cricket

Updated: Dec 07, 2018 09:03 IST

It was a disappointing start to the series for KL Rahul as the India opener could manage to score just two runs before he was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood on Day 1 of the first Test against Australia in Adelaide on Friday.

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar was not impressed with Rahul’s outing in the first Test and he believes that the opener should be dropped from the team if he fails to perform in the second innings.

“KL Rahul should be dropped from playing XI if he fails to score in second innings. Because he has no more self-confidence left in him. There was a time when he was a very confident player, but now he doesn’t look so. There is a tentativeness, a certainty in him about the ball outside the off stump, about his shots, he plays it across the line as well. He has not bothered to correct the faults in his techniques.

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“When you shuffle from leg stump to leg stump, you know the placement of the stump, but when a tall batsman like him shuffles towards off stump off his backfoot then the front foot will go a lot outside the off stump and then you play the shot outside the off stump you are liable to get out at slip. He had made this mistake in England and he making the same mistake now as well and only he knows why is he doing it,” Gavaskar told Aaj Tak.

Rahul was the only prominent batsman to miss out on a significant score in India’s 358 all out on day two of the four-day tour game against Cricket Australia XI in Sydney. He was out for three runs while playing a loose drive on the up and was caught at mid off within the first hour of play.