What happens to him now?: Deep Dasgupta concerned about Indian batsman's future

India batsman K.L. Rahul is currently going through an extremely rough patch. Chatter about his future in the Indian team has picked up pace after the wicketkeeper-batsman returned with scores of 1,0,0, and 14 in the T20I series against England in Ahmedabad before getting dropped for the fifth and final encounter.

After an extremely successful IPL 2020 in the UAE --where he finished as the highest run-scorer with 670 runs at an average of 55.83, including a hundred and five half-centuries-- the 28-year-old warmed the bench during the Australian Test series Down Under and the England Test series at home. His return, since, has been laced with a steep dip in form and heavy criticism being fired at him from all ends.

ALSO READ| ‘He would have got a wake-up call’: Dasgupta says India spinner looked ‘a little off the boil’ in T20I series

Now with the three-match ODI series beginning in Pune on Tuesday, former India wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta feels India have a tricky task at hand to take a call on his inclusion in the team. Though the Karnataka batsman has been successful at No.5 for India, the rise of Rishabh Pant is likely to make it even tougher for Rahul to make the cut.

“Virat [Kohli] has already mentioned that Shikhar [Dhawan] and Rohit [Sharma] will open. If you go by numbers, KL is very good batting at No. 5 and also keeping wickets. If you go by numbers, KL Rahul has done well in the past but if you go by current form, it will be Rishabh Pant,” said Dasgupta while speaking to Sports Today.

After having been out of favour in the other two formats for Team India, Dasgupta added that it will be tough on KL Rahul if he also loses his spot in the ODI team as well now.

ALSO READ| In ODIs, India’s “Big Three” remain Sharma, Dhawan and Kohli

"The big question is what happens now (to KL Rahul)? I don’t know, it’s going to be a tough one. On the one side, you'd want Rishabh to bat at No. 5. He is evolving as a cricketer, you want that to continue and that will help him also," stated Dasgupta.

He added: “On the other hand, you have a class act like KL Rahul, who is not in form. He has lost his place in the T20I side, in the Test before this. If he loses his places in the ODI side, I don’t know where it puts him, in terms of the India team in all 3 formats. That’s a very tricky one,” he added.

The first ODI between India and England begins at 1:30pm on Tuesday, March 23 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.