Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly looked quite furious after KL Rahul’s departure from the national team for ODI series against New Zealand. Though selectors have recalled him for the T20I leg and Test series versus Sri Lanka, Ganguly believed Karthik’s inclusion in his place is unbelievable.
“I am not too happy seeing KL Rahul out of the squad because he is a player for the future. Dinesh Karthik made his debut in 2007 with us and it has been 10 years but he has not been able to get a permanent place in the side which speaks a lot about how he has gone about his cricketing career in the last 10 years,” said Ganguly.
He added “With KL Rahul, he is someone who has scored runs all around the world, whether it is Australia, Sri Lanka or West Indies. I think KL Rahul should be brought back into this team as soon as possible because I think he is a serious talent. KL Rahul’s record and quality and also because he is young, he should be included in the squad.”
Rahul is in red-hot form in 2017 and scored runs in every series. It began from Australia Test, where he scored six fifties in seven innings and followed it up with two half-centuries in two innings of Sri Lanka Test series.
Also, he is among the three Indians, who have scored tons in all three formats. Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma are the other two. Dada further explained his vision for the young man and said “Rahul has got runs all around the world, he has got hundreds all around the world and is just a very good talent. He is the only player among all these youngsters apart from Virat Kohli who has played all three formats for the game and has got success in all three formats of the game.”
“Rohit Sharma struggled in Test cricket, Ajinkya Rahane has struggled in One Day cricket to a little extent and then there are Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey who primarily play ODI cricket.”
Rahul along with Virat Kohli is the only player who plays all three International formats regularly. MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey are not regular in Test cricket. “Except Virat Kohli, he (Rahul) is the only guy who has played all three formats and even Dhoni does not play all three formats anymore. From that point of view I think it was a bit tough leaving out KL Rahul,” CAB president concluded.
Bengaluru lad is currently playing Ranji Trophy with his domestic team Karnataka.
