Former cricketers differ over sending KL Rahul at number 6

During the match played in Wellington on Saturday, India lost three wickets for 39 runs. In this difficult situation, Axar Patel was sent to bat instead of KL Rahul. Axar Patel appeared uncomfortable against the Kiwi bowlers, and struggling with the pace and bounce of the pitch, he was out after playing a weak shot towards third man. KL Rahul, who came to the crease thereafter, looked comfortable even on a pitch where most other batsmen were struggling. Axar Patel scored only 7 runs in 17 balls.

According to a report by TV9 Gujarati, former Indian selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth raised questions over this decision on his YouTube channel. He questioned how reasonable it was to send Rahul at number 6 after Axar Patel. Srikkanth stated that Gautam Gambhir should understand that Rahul is a key player who has scored centuries for India at number 3 and 4, and pushing him into such a role is a gross injustice. He further added that in the second ODI, only Rahul looked comfortable, and when the situation is difficult, players like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are the ones who step up. Had Rahul been out early in the last match, India's position would have worsened.

On the other hand, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar supported the strategy of sending a left-handed batsman up the order. Speaking on Sony Sports Network, Gavaskar said that the arrival of a left-handed batsman breaks the chain of right-handed batsmen, forcing bowlers to change their line and length, which increases the opportunities to score runs. Gavaskar added that there was nothing wrong with this thought process and if Axar had scored runs, people would have praised the captaincy. He stated that such experiments work sometimes and sometimes they do not, and this time it was not successful. Gavaskar further said that such an experiment was conducted precisely because a strong player like Rahul was there after Axar.