India head coach Gautam Gambhir went public recently to defend KL Rahul, who has been ineffective in this longest format of cricket for some time. The poor display led to much criticism following India’s defeat against New Zealand in the first Test of the three-match series. He failed miserably in that Test with a duck in the first innings and just 12 in the second.

India went on to lose the match by eight wickets against New Zealand. Although Rahul has been struggling of late, Gambhir has publicly been a supporter of the under-fire opener, saying he is confident Rahul will regain his form. Speaking to the media ahead of the second Test, Gambhir strongly underlined that no external opinion could decide the team’s decision-making.

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“Social media does not decide the playing XI. It is not important what social media or experts think, it is important what team management thinks,” Gautam Gambhir said. In that regard, the batsman also reminds one of an innings played by him earlier at a Kanpur pitch- not exactly demanding on this particular wicket-a battle where he has shown he can be very solid and score big runs in games coming his way.

Gambhir was keen to praise Rahul’s innings against Bangladesh in the Kanpur Test where the opener scored 68 runs off 43 deliveries on a difficult pitch. He said he wanted to see more such performances from Rahul throughout the series against New Zealand.

“He’s had a decent knock in Kanpur, obviously on a difficult wicket, and played according to the plans,” Gautam Gambhir said. “I think his ability of scoring big runs is why the management is sticking with him,” he said.

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As India has lost the series 0-1, the second Test is scheduled in Pune to begin October 24. There, all will watch Rahul play from Pune and see if he still has the rhythm to help India get back on track.