“Utility player, can keep and bat at No. 3 or 4” - When Gautam Gambhir suggested an 'apt replacement' for MS Dhoni 

Back in 2020, current Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir earmarked wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul as the perfect replacement for MS Dhoni. The former India opener termed Rahul as a utility player and said that he could bat at number three or four if needed.

Dhoni played his last game during the 2019 ICC World Cup semi-finals. Team India lost to New Zealand in the game and crashed out of the tournament. Since then, Rishabh Pant was touted to take over as the specialist wicketkeeper-batter but following a concussion against Australia in 2020, KL Rahul donned the gloves.

Post the series against Australia and New Zealand in 2020, a COVID-19 lockdown was enforced, with all cricket activity halted. Gambhir, speaking on Cricket Connected hosted by Star Sports, said that KL Rahul was the best player to the talismanic wicketkeeper-batter.

He said via ESPNCricinfo:

"If the IPL does not happen this year, then it will become very difficult for MS Dhoni to make a comeback. On what basis can he be selected since he's not been playing for the last one or one and a half years?"

"The apt replacement for Dhoni could be KL Rahul. Ever since he has donned the keeper's gloves in white-ball cricket, I've seen his performance, both batting and keeping. Obviously, his keeping is not as good as Dhoni's, but if you are looking at T20 cricket, Rahul's a utility player, who can keep and bat at No. 3 or 4," Gambhir added.

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Gambhir-backed KL Rahul's numbers as a wicketkeeper-batter

KL Rahul's ODI batting record as keeper reads 1,386 runs in 37 matches at 55.44, inclusive of two centuries and 10 fifties. He also has 49 catches and four stumpings. He donned the gloved in the 2023 ICC Men's ODI World Cup, where he scored 452 runs in 11 matches, including two half-centuries and a hundred (102) against the Netherlands in Bengaluru.

The Karnataka-born cricketer also has kept in Tests, famously scoring a hundred against South Africa (101) in the Boxing Day Test 2023. He has kept wickets in two Tests, scoring 113 runs at 37.66. He has taken eight catches in the longer format.

The 32-year-old has kept wickets in eight T20Is, scoring 305 runs at 43.57, inclusive of three fifties. He has taken four catches and has conducted one stumping.