Venkatesh Prasad fires fresh salvo at out-of-form KL Rahul

Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad on Monday fired a fresh salvo at out-of-form opener KL Rahul on Monday, a day after the latter was retained in the Team India for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Taking note of the squad announcement, Prasad, who has unarguably been Rahul’s staunchest critic in recent times, questioning his retention in the Indian team despite repeated failures. He has now targeted Rahul over his “overseas Test record”, which some perceive as “great”. He underlined the fact that the Karnataka batter only has an overseas Test average of 30 in 56 innings.

“There is a view that KL Rahul has an outstanding overseas Test record. But stats speak otherwise. He has a test avg of 30 overseas in 56 innings. He has scored 6 overseas centuries but followed it up with a string of low scores that’s why averaging 30. Let’s look at a few others,” Prasad tweeted with a graphic highlighting Rahul’s overseas record.

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Prasad didn’t stop there and went on to share the statistics of the likes of other opening batters suggesting their statistics remain better than Rahul’s.

“Shikhar Dhawan has the best overseas average amongst recent openers. Avg of nearly 40 with 5 100’s. Though he too hasn’t been consistent in Test but had outstanding centuries in SL and NZ, plus a much better home record,” he tweeted.

“Mayank Agarwal after the brilliant start in Aust did struggle in away test matches. But he has by far the best home record. Avg of nearly 70 in 13 innings, 2 double 100s & a 150 on a Wankhede pitch where everyone else struggled. Great against spin & had a prolific domestic season.”

“Shubhman Gill has had a brief international career and in 14 overseas innings averages 37, with his 91 at Gabba amongst the best overseas 4th innings and has been in outstanding form.”

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“And if overseas performance is a criteria, Ajinkya Rahane despite being out of form and also inconsistent before being dropped had one of the best overseas Test record, averaging over 40 overseas in 50 test matches. Was out of form and dropped …,” Prasad wrote in a series of tweets.

Prasad, however, opined that Rahul has the best opportunity of returning to form in the Indore Test. “If he doesn’t do that, he should go and play county cricket,” he said.

“But with KL being retained for the remaining 2 test matches, if he is picked in the playing 11, Indore is his best chance of coming back to form and silencing critics like me. Else needs to play county cricket, perform well and make a comeback in the Test side,” he concluded.

Rahul has been retained in the Indian squad for the 3rd and 4th Test against Australia but no longer enjoys the tag of a ‘vice-captain’.