T20I: KL Rahul will return home with a heavy heart

India's KL Rahul en route his 88* at Hamilton on Wednesday. Pic/AFP

Auckland: It now looks a bit strange that the man in form in white-ball cricket will be coming back to India next week while youngsters like Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill will be part of the Test squad for the two-match series. Of course, you can't blame selectors for ignoring KL Rahul for Test matches as he failed to go past 50 in the last 12 innings since his 149 at the Oval in England in 2018. However, it can be argued that now especially after Rohit Sharma's forced departure because of injury, Rahul should have stayed in NZ for the remainder of the series.

"You want to capitalise on form like this. You have seen it in the past too, that players have been drafted in a particular squad based on their form. Why not KL Rahul? After this innings, even the team management, the selectors must be thinking, 'okay, maybe we have been harsh on him. Maybe, we should have just given him the opportunity in Rohit Sharma's absence," said former India pacer Zaheer Khan on Cricbuzz.

Apart from Kohli and Rohit, it is Rahul among the contemporary Indian batsmen who looks comfortable across all formats. In fact, of late, he has been moving up and down in the order depending on the team's requirements besides taking the added responsibility of wicketkeeping.

"It's amazing, he is open to accepting any role the team needs him to," said Kohli just before the T20I series begun.

"He is a total team man. You can tell from the way he 'keeps as well, he is always looking for an opportunity and always looking to make a play. He is not nervous about it."

Rahul may be a touch disappointed that he won't be carrying on his rich form in red-ball cricket. But, over the last few months, he has proved that temporary setbacks have only made him a more determined and better player.

224
No. of runs scored by KL Rahul in the recently-concluded five-match T20I series in New Zealand at an average of 56.00

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