Bangladesh vs India 2022

‘If things don’t go well there’- Dinesh Karthik predicts do-or-die series for KL Rahul after Bangladesh failure

KL Rahul has been captaining the India side against Bangladesh in the ongoing two-match Test series. After winning the first Test quite comprehensively India went into the second to complete a white-wash. India’s hopes however took a huge dent as the top order failed spectacularly in the fourth innings.

Rahul himself was the first two to depart at just 2 runs, leaving the team in limbo. Following Rahul’s failure with the bat, Dinesh Karthik has come out and rang alarm bells for the batter.

“Let’s look at the recent past,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz. “Before these two Bangladesh Tests, three against South Africa, four against England that he played. In those 7 Tests, he’s got two centuries and two fifties and those are in away conditions. These are tough conditions to play in, so as a support staff of the Indian team, when you look at him, you know he’s got the skill. He’s not going through the best of times at this point, and you got to back him.”

Karthik has said that the Australia series would be a litmus test for Rahul and he could be in danger of ouster if he doesn’t perform well in the BGT.

“He’s the (stand-in) captain of the Indian team and you can’t let go of him easy. I think, he will definitely start the Australian series, and if things don’t go well there, that is where the questions will start to arise in a much bigger manner,” he added.

There’s a lot happening for KL Rahul at the moment- Karthik

“Look, I think we have to understand mindsets of batters. Right now, there’s a lot happening in his mind. He’s the captain, he hasn’t got the volume of runs he wants. He is under pressure, he is tentative when he starts to bat. This happens to a lot of batters, literally every batter who plays for the country. You go through spell where you find the runs hard to come by,” Karthik said.

He continued, “It could be the new ball, you feel the conditions are made for batting, sometimes you don’t get to runs and everyday the mind keeps throwing doubts at you and it gets bigger and bigger. In his case, he’s tentative, he’s not very committed to the front foot. He’s hanging back, hoping that the ball would turn and he could play the ball. But at times, he is trying to make an effort to play. It’s not a technical error, there’s a lot happening for KL Rahul at the moment.”

Virat Kohli also got out at 1 run and is facing a lot of criticism.