As reported by ESPNCricinfo, Rahul and Dhruv Jurel have been included in the four-day India A game after being sent to Australia early due to limited game time during the home season. This lineup change means that captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who opened in the first match against Australia A, will move down to bat in the middle order. Additionally, Ishan Kishan will have to relinquish his wicketkeeping responsibilities to accommodate Jurel in the team.
Earlier, Easwaran was called up to the India Test squad as the replacement for Rohit, who is yet to confirm his availability for the opening Test match, on the back of a fabulous start to his red-ball campaign this season, where he scored four centuries in four consecutive matches across three series. However, Rahul's inclusion and potential decision to open in Melbourne could be down to the selectors once again not trusting the Bengal opener in big matches, having returned with scores of 7 and 12 in the opening India A game.
A revival for KL Rahul?If Rahul impresses Gambhir with a good score for India A, it will mark a return to the top-order position for the Karnataka batter. He remains one of the only two Asian openers to have a century in the format in England, South Africa, and Australia, albeit with a not-so-good batting figure at the position—2551 runs in 75 innings at 34.94.
His journey as a middle-order specialist batter had begun with the 2023/24 tour of South Africa, after which he scored 339 runs in 10 innings at 37.66, which included a century in Centurion and two fifties.
Sarfaraz Khan's position under threatThe potential Rahul move could mean if Rohit does make himself available for the Perth game, he could replace Sarfaraz in the playing XI, who has fallen off the reckoning after scoring just 21 runs in the last four innings, including a duck after his majestic 150 against New Zealand in Bengaluru. Moreover, there has been increasing concern among experts over how or if his game style would at all suit Australian conditions.
Meanwhile, with Jurel also part of the India A game, a decent score could also see him replace Sarfaraz in the playing XI in Perth.
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