Gautam Gambhir backs KL Rahul in press conference ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25

New Delhi: Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir has given a befitting reply to all the critics over KL Rahul’s inclusion in the side for the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024 owing to his poor batting form. The criticism came amid the Indian management, comprising Gambhir and the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee backing Rahul for a place in the playing XI in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Test series despite a slump in form.

Gautam Gambhir said “KL Rahul can bat in the top order, he can bat at 3, he can play at 6 – so you need a lot of talent to do all these jobs & he keeps in ODIs – imagine how many countries have players like KL and he is one of the options if Rohit is not available”. pic.twitter.com/goWfWhjeDZ

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 11, 2024

People have also questioned the fact that even after no specific role or position in the lineup, how is KL still part of the squad which is set to travel to Australia? Earlier, Rahul was given the responsibility of the middle order when India began their Test calendar for 2024. However, after a run of three matches, which included one fifty, he was dropped to make way for Sarfaraz Khan, who had impressed the management with his knock of 150 against New Zealand.

Unfortunately, the plan backfired and Sarfaraz struggled in the final two matches against the Kiwis earlier this month, returning with just 21 runs in four innings, including a duck. Subsequently, the selectors have now turned back to KL Rahul to return to their original plan.

India Squad for Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024:

BCCI announced the squad for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy with Rohit Sharma as the captain while Jasprit Bumrah will serve as the second-in-command.

Full Squad:

Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar

Travelling Reserves:

Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

Australia squad for the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024