The debate over KL Rahul's poor form does not seem to stop soon. The opening batter gave a forgettable performance in the first two Tests against Australia, where he could only manage to score 38 runs. His inclusion in the Playing XI over in-form Shubman Gill has raised a lot of questions about how players are being selected in the Indian team. Former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad, among others, has been quite vocal on Rahul repeatedly getting chance in the Indian paying XI. However, former India opener Gautam Gambhir came in support of Rahul and urged the former cricketers not to criticise the opening batter on the social media.
"I would definitely want to say about all that buzz created on social media. Look, if you want to help someone out or if you want to criticise someone, you might as well criticise behind closed doors. You don't criticise on social media....the social media things that happen is probably to increase the followers and create the narrative," Gautam Gambhir told Times Now.
"I think when India is in the middle of a series...whether getting selected or not getting selected is none of the experts' job; it's the selectors' job. When India is 2-0 up, it's now 2-0 down, and more importantly, when someone is down, he should be backed - it's not that because he is the captain of LSG - I absolutely believe that when you need support, that's when players and everyone should give him support."
Gambhir has worked with Rahul as part of the Lucknow Super Giants franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
In 2022, Rahul has scored just one half century and has scored at an average of 17.12. During the ongoing Test series against Australia, he failed to score big in the first Test match and in the second encounter in Delhi, he could only manage scores of 17 and 1.
Talking about the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Team India have taken 2-0 lead in the four-match series against Australia. Both the teams, will now square off against each other in the third Test from March 1 in Indore.