Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed middle-order batsman KL Rahul for his underwhelming performance on the first day of the Chennai Test. Rahul was dismissed after scoring a mere 16 runs off 52 balls, falling to spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the 43rd over, with the team at 144 runs for six wickets.
Manjrekar, while speaking to ESPNcricinfo, stated, “Completely understandable that they went for KL Rahul. It was just about experience, class, and recent form – the century in South Africa and an 80 in the only Test he played against England. But this is KL Rahul’s story. It is amazing that he plays a brilliant innings at the Test level and in the next two to three innings, it seems like he has got a pair in the last Test.” Manjrekar highlighted Rahul’s recurring temperamental issues during batting, which he believes have hampered his potential in Test cricket.
Highlighting Rahul’s average of 34 over 50 Test matches, Manjrekar added, “That is more of a temperamental problem with KL Rahul that has plagued him for 50 Test matches because the numbers that he has, while he has got some brilliant hundreds, an average of 34 with quite a few 100s in testing conditions tells you about his temperament, which we got a look at today as well.” On the first day, Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl. Despite India’s top-order collapse, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant formed a crucial 62-run partnership. India’s innings saw a strong recovery led by Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as they closed the day at 339/6. Hasan Mahmud was Bangladesh’s standout bowler with 4 wickets.
