“KL Rahul has to go without a doubt” – Wasim Jaffer picks Shubman Gill as Rohit Sharma’s opening partner

Wasim Jaffer feels stand-in Indian skipper KL Rahul will be dropped from playing XI after his below-par performance with the bat during the two-Test series in Bangladesh.

The former India cricketer hinted that Shubman Gill might open the innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma during the upcoming four-match home Test series against Australia.

Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Jaffer said:

“KL Rahul has to go without a doubt, in my opinion. He had a pretty ordinary series as a batsman. If Rohit comes in, KL has to make a way.”

For the uninitiated, Rahul scored 22 and 23 and 10 and two in the two Tests against Bangladesh. In 2022, he scored 137 runs in four Tests at a paltry average of 17.13.

In the absence of the injured Rohit Sharma, Gill registered his maiden century in the second innings of the Chattogram Test. The right-handed batter, however, failed to deliver in the Dhaka Test, managing only 27 runs in two innings combined.

Meanwhile, Sharma will make his Team India comeback in the upcoming white-ball series against Sri Lanka after recovering from a thumb injury, which he sustained during the second ODI against Bangladesh.

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“That didn’t happen” – Wasim Jaffer questions KL Rahul and Shubman Gill’s defensive approach against Bangladesh

Jaffer also questioned KL Rahul and Shubman Gill's defensive approach while chasing a small target of 145. The veteran feels that the top-order batters allowed the Bangladesh spinners to dominate in the fourth innings.

“I expected Shubman Gill to come out and play his shots," he said. "That’s what he did in the first innings. In the second innings, he’ll probably be even more attacking or aggressive, even KL, he had a disappointing series, so I thought he’ll come out and play his usual self which we’ve seen him before, but that didn’t happen.”

“You put spinners on top, runs are not going to come easy anyway when you play defensively. The approach was pretty defensive," Jaffer added further.

Chasing 145, Ravichandran Ashwin (42*) and Shreyas Iyer (29*) shared a match-winning 71-run partnership to save the visitors from a precarious position of 74/7. The visitors won the Test series 2-0 against Bangladesh to keep their hope alive of making it to the ICC World Test Championship final.