The Indian opener, KL Rahul has proved his worth in recent times both with the bat and gloves which has given an idea of him being a probable wicket-keeper batsman in the future. He was just filling in for the injured Rishabh Pant in Rajkot but comparisons have already been drawn with the legendary Rahul Dravid.

Eventually, Rahul’s 80 off 52 balls made the difference as India won the high-scoring second ODI by 36 runs. He also effected a brilliant stumping to dismiss Aaron Finch followed by a couple of catches off pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Navdeep Saini respectively. Though former India opener Aakash Chopra feels that Rahul is a better wicket-keeper than what Dravid was in his playing days, he feels the youngster. should not be given the dual responsibility.

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As per the quotes in PTI, Chopra said, “He is a better keeper than what Dravid was but I would not want him to keep on a regular basis. He can’t be kept for 50 overs and then batting higher up the order. Rahul is too precious a talent for me to slot in as a keeper-batsman. That way, instead of managing his workload, you are increasing his workload. Once in a while, if he has to keep for the team balance it is okay but in the long run, you have to allow him to score 10000 runs and that won’t happen if he is being asked to keep.”

Before the series, it seemed there was a toss-up between Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan for the second opening position. However, skipper Virat Kohli, who has always shown a lot of faith in Rahul, accommodated both in the eleven, the latter playing at number three spot in Mumbai and five in Rajkot.

Former India wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia is also of the view that Rahul can’t be the first choice wicket-keeper, at least in ODIs.

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Mongia said, “He can be a good second wicket-keeper. He cannot be a permanent wicket-keeper in ODIs. T20s it is still okay but not in ODIs. You need to have a specialist keeper anyway, Rishabh is there for that. Yesterday was just a chance to try Rahul out and he did reasonably well.”

If Rahul does keep regularly, it does give Kohli the option of playing two all-rounders instead of one at the moment. Hardik Pandya, who is currently recovering from an injury, and Ravindra Jadeja can both play if Rahul plays as a gloveman.