New Delhi: Seasoned Indian batter KL Rahul and young sensation Sarfaraz Khan are in a battle for a spot in the Indian team for the upcoming second Test match against New Zealand. India would be eying to save the series with a win in the Pune Test after going down to the Kiwis in the series opener in Bengaluru. To help the overall cause of the side, the selectors would be relying on the best out of the two who can play a pivotal role in making India triumphant.
While Rahul has been struggling for quite sometime now in almost all the formats but is still keeping his place, Sarfaraz has emerged as the Indian team sensational with some remarkable performances recently. In the second Test match in Bengaluru, the young Indian batter impressed everyone with a gritty 150-run knock in the second innings while Rahul could only amass 12 runs.
Focus on team combination ahead of 2nd Test
In the first innings, both the batters were out on ducks but Sarfaraz recovered from the setback and came up strongly while struggle for Rahul continued. Ahead of the second match of the series, focus will be on the right team combination with Washington Sundar also being added to the squad.
Injured Shubman Gill and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who suffered a blow to his knee during the first Test, are both willing to shake off injury concerns and participate in the all-important clash for Team India. In the coming days, it will be decided as to who survives and fits in the Indian squad for Pune Test but assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has admitted that there is a selection battle between the middle-order batters.
What Doeschate has to say
Doeschate admits that there is no point in sugarcoating it as there is a selection fight for a spot in the team between KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan. “Sarfaraz was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test (and) said how many balls do you play at (and) miss at? He didn’t play at (and) miss at one ball and that’s what tends to happen when you’re not getting runs. There’s certainly no concerns about KL, he’s batting nicely, he’s in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what’s going to be best for the team,” he said.
The assistant coach also admitted that it is difficult to keep Rahil out of equation in the longest format and head coach Gautam Gambhir is also keen to give him a long rope. The entire selection committee has a lot of faith in Rahul.
