Venkatesh Prasad launches fresh attack on Rahul after India retain opener for BGT, compares records of Dhawan and Rahane

Even though Venkatesh Prasad reassured that he had no axe to grind against KL Rahul, the former Indian pacer launched a fresh attack on the out-of-form batter on Monday. The former Indian pacer has fired a fresh salvo at opener Rahul after the star batter was retained by Rohit Sharma and Co. for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Sunday.

Hours after India hammered Pat Cummins and Co. in the 2nd Test of the four-match series, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India's squad for the 3rd and 4th Tests of the high-profile Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The BCCI named an unchanged squad for the remainder of the series as Rahul managed to retain his place despite his batting slump in Test cricket.

Taking cognisance of the squad announcement, Prasad shared a long thread in which he discussed Rahul's overseas Test record. “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.

In his recent tweets, Prasad claimed that veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has the best average as an opening batter. The former Indian pacer also highlighted the batting records of openers Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill and ex-vice-captain Ajnkya Rahane. "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 observed.

The former Indian pacer feels that the upcoming 3rd Test chance is Rahul's best chance to repay the selectors' faith. Though Rahul has been retained for the remainder of the Test series, the out-of-form batter is no longer the deputy of skipper Rohit in the longest format. “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,” concluded Prasad, who played 33 Tests and 161 One Day International (ODIs) for India.

Rahul has made six 50-plus scores with an average of 25.82 in 48 innings since the beginning of 2018. Rahul averages 33.44 in the 47 Tests he has played for India. The former Indian vice-captain has failed to go beyond the individual score of 23 in his last 10 Test innings. The 30-year-old registered forgetful scores of 17 and one in India's comfortable win over Australia in the 2nd Test at Delhi.