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KL Rahul stands close to exit after multiple failures

After several failures and inconsistent outings, KL Rahul stands perilously close to exit door from team

KL Rahul stands at crossroads

Bengaluru, December 20: It's tough to be KL Rahul at this time. Form has deserted him. Runs have dried up. His technique and temperament are under scrutiny. Now this once majestic batsman is the pet boy of troll masters after his latest failure in the second Test against Australia at Perth.

The theory of turnaround is just one good innings away seemed to be not working in the case of Rahul. He seemed to have found the mojo against England at the Oval with a shining hundred. But his four outings in Australia so far have produced 48 runs at 12 and in that 44 runs came in the second innings at Adelaide when he and M Vijay shared a 63-run stand for the opening wicket.

To say that the team management has been incredibly patient with Rahul will be a massive understatement. They have given him a really long rope and after his Perth misadventure it can be assumed that the Bengaluru man is clinging on to the last inch of it.

Dating back to the second Test against Sri Lanka at Nagpur in November 2017, Rahul has 11 single digit scores in 23 Test innings (19 as opener) and in this time span his only 50+ knock other than the Oval hundred was a fifty against Afghanistan at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.

And in this period, Rahul has scored 475 runs at 21.59 but a darker picture emerges if we remove that hundred at the Oval and fifty at Bengaluru. Then his numbers plummet to 272 runs from 21 innings at 13.6. Those stats are too damning for an opener whose job is to wear off the new ball and set a platform for the incoming batsmen. Unfortunately, Rahul has even failed to last long enough in the middle, spending on an average 55 minutes at crease - too low for an opener.

Rahul's short sojourns to the crease mean that much more pressure on Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli to shore up the innings and it has been happening far too often in the last year or so for the team's good. In this period, Rahul has been dismissed 22 times and in that he was bowled 10 times, was out caught on 8 occasions and trapped in front of the wicket 4 times.

But more alarmingly, he was dismissed either castled or leg before 11 times in the last 13 Test innings, revealing a shortcoming against incoming balls. The latest instance being left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc's inswinger rattling the stumps after taking a deflection off his hands in the second innings at Perth. However, right-arm fast bowlers are doing the damage to Rahul more accounting for his wicket 18 times in this period.

It seems that Rahul is trying to hit out of the trouble, playing one shots too many and in doing so he has left his defence vulnerable. He might just have forgotten that leaving the balls alone outside the off-stump plays a big role in SENA countries and right now Rahul looks impatient to get back among runs.

Assistant coach Sanjay Bangar had said that Rahul has been finding new ways to get out but at the same breath we also need to ask what Bangar, who also holds the responsibility of the team's batting coach, has been doing with Rahul. Of course, a fine batsman like Rahul will not turn bad over a period of time and as Virat Kohli says the skill remains with a player.

The best solution, as suggested by Sunil Gavaskar, could be to release him and allow him to play in Ranji Trophy - a get-runs-get-confidence-back scheme. The decision-making is up to the team think tank. Now, six days remain for the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne but this Christmas week will be a grim one for Rahul.

Rahul might be knowing that he does not have too many lifelines left. The last of them may come at Melbourne or may be just not.

India's options for openers

1. Mayank Agarwal

1. Mayank Agarwal

The Karnataka man has scored truckload of runs in 2017 and he has continued to make runs for the state and India A at various competitions. Now, he has been drafted into the side for the last two Tests and the team management will be tempted to give him a go either at Melbourne of Sydney considering the modest form of Rahul and Vijay.

2. Parthiv Patel

2. Parthiv Patel

Parthiv had opened for India in the second innings of the Johannesburg Test and he has done that job in the past as well. He is with the squad in Australia and if the team think tank wants to rest either Rahul or Vijay or both of them, Parthiv could be an option in front of them.

3. Cheteshwar Pujara

3. Cheteshwar Pujara

It's a rather extreme step, though it can be argued that Pujara has already walked in inside the first three overs after the openers' dismissals in three innings Down Under. But this move could possibly unsettle a batting order that has already been shaken.

4. Rohit Sharma

4. Rohit Sharma

This move too can be thought over by the team management since Rohit opens regularly in the white ball format. However, the Mumbaikar has not opened in whites so far and opening in Test cricket can be a vastly different challenge.

Story first published: Thursday, December 20, 2018, 15:55 [IST]
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