Former Indian captain Kris Srikkanth lashed out at the team management for their poor use of veteran wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul after the first ODI against England at Edgbaston. He came into bat at No. 6, below Washington Sundar, despite his stunning ODI record. Rahul was dismissed for a three-ball one even as India registered a six-wicket victory. He has an incredible ODI record at No. 5, averaging 63.20 in 35 innings. However, Rahul averages only 37 in 14 ODI innings at No. 6 as well.

Talking about KL Rahul, Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel, Cheeky Cheeka, “I don’t think he’s also liking this demotion. You are wasting one of the best batters in the world in ODIs. Are you going to continue sacrificing one of the world’s best batters? There is too much made out of the left-right combination. By doing this, you are spoiling KL Rahul’s confidence. He’s a potential match-winner for you.”

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“How can you send him at No.6 and 7? They are playing around with Rahul and this is not done. Playing around with Rahul like this is not at all good for Indian cricket, looking towards the 2027 World Cup. The tracks there will have more bounce and pace and Sundar should not be going ahead of Rahul. That’s not a good move at all,” he further added.

Kris Srikkanth also dismissed the idea of Washington Sundar batting ahead of KL Rahul in ODIs despite his match-winning knock in the opening ODI against England.

“There is no denying that Sundar batted brilliantly in this match. Yet, there is no way Washington Sundar can ahead of KL Rahul. You can’t have Sundar at 5. It’s fine for low totals like this game. But if the target was over 300, they would have struggled with this batting order,” concluded Srikkanth.