Former India cricketer Suresh Raina praises KL Rahul and believes that his presence will bring calmness to the Indian Cricket team who will play a 5-match home T20I series against South Africa in the absence of Rohit Sharma as skipper.
Suresh Raina praises KL Rahul
KL Rahul who recently led one of the 2 new IPL teams, Lucknow Super Giants to IPL 2022 playoffs has been named as the skipper of the Indian T20I cricket team in the absence of India’s regular captain Rohit Sharma who has been rested for the series.
During a discussion on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’, Suresh Raina was asked about his views on KL Rahul’s captaincy for which the former left-hander claims that KL Rahul has looked very calm and composed as a skipper in recent times and the players, who have been selected for the South Africa T20Is, need a captain like Rahul.
“He has looked very calm and composed as a captain in recent times and the players selected need a leader like KL Rahul. There is Kuldeep (Yadav) and Chahal, both will play together”, feels the 35-year-old.
“There are new fast bowlers – Umran Malik, the way he has bowled, and then Arshdeep. Both Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik, whose performance has been very good in the IPL, will also be there. So I feel his (Rahul’s) presence will bring calmness and the South African players are also good, so it will be a very good contest”, said the left-hander.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, in the same interaction was questioned if it would be crucial for the management to inform Rahul about the template that the Indian team will be following at the World Cup.
Pathan replied by saying that the clarity would have been provided by the head coach Rahul Dravid. He states:
“It is extremely necessary and the clarity would have been given. I have been saying that since Rahul Dravid has come as a coach, I have played under his captaincy, his biggest thing is the clarity of role”, said Pathan.
“It is not that the earlier coaches have not done that, Ravi Shastri was there and Virat Kohli was captaining, but Dravid will take it one step ahead. I have full belief the communication would have happened and KL Rahul would have been told that if he is the captain, it means he is the next in line.”
India Squad
KL Rahul (Capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(VC) (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, R Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
South Africa Squad
Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen
