Exclusive! ICC Cricket World Cup: 'KL Rahul deserves his spot and Shubman Gill injury not a blow,' says Venkatapathy Raju

ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: Former India player and selector Venkatapathy Raju says KL Rahul deserves to be playing at the middle order and Shubman Gill's absence 'will not be a blow' for India.

BCCI announced on a statement on Monday (October 9) that Shubman Gill will be missing the Afghanistan match and hasn't travelled with the team. The opener was diagnosed with Dengue earlier and missed the Australia match. And it seems the batter hasn't recovered fully and will be under medical observation.

But Venkatapathy Raju - the former selector when India won the 2007 T20 World Cup - believes Gill is only not playing because of his illness and that doesn't warrant any chills through the Indian spine.

"It is not a blow because he(Shubman Gill) hasn't lost his form. Rohit Sharma has said the importance of the middle-order and we played brilliantly. When someone is injured, somebody has to fill it as it's a team game. Shubman Gill comes back straight into the team after his illness," Raju told MyKhel in an exclusive chat.

"Once he comes back, he will be an automatic choice. He is in such a great form and he is not playing only because of his illness. And we don't have to dwell so much as all the players are in good form," the former India player added.

KL Rahul deserves to play at no. 5: Raju

Ishan Kishan played in the first match against Australia, after replacing Gill. Although the southpaw scored a duck, Raju says Kishan must play against Afghanistan.

KL Rahul was India's saviour against Australia as his unbeaten 97 paved India's victory in the opening match of the World Cup. When asked about whether KL Rahul may be tasked to open to accommodate Suryakumar Yadav in the middle order, Raju says the Karnataka-born should be tasked with his current role.

"I think we have experimented too much. KL Rahul should play at no. 5 and especially after yesterday's knock, he should play at the middle-order. We used to talk about no. 4 and now we are talking about no. 5, that has been his impact. He is keeping also and it's not that easy. I think we should go with the same team and preserve the winning combination," he further said.

"Ishan Kishan played only one match and in that, he got out. That doesn't mean he is bad. The player deserves some more chances so that he feels confident," the former India player concluded.

India have made a fantastic start to their ICC World Cup 2023 campaign as they beat Australia in the first match. The Men in Blue will lock horns against Afghanistan on Wednesday and then they take on arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday.