“Batting at Lord’s on a damp wicket, it was one of the best hundreds I have seen”, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid continues to back KL Rahul amid his poor form with the bat

As the pressure on the Indian vice-captain has been rising, KL Rahul has not been having the greatest of times with the bat as of late. The 30-year-old has been sputtering recently, scoring just 1, 17, and 20 over his last three innings.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Head Coach Rahul Dravid have both publicly stated their support for Rahul despite his dismal run of form and assured fans that the team would not stop investing in youngsters who show “potential.”

It’s not only Rahul’s lack of run production that has supporters questioning the Indian opener’s status on the squad; they also have issues with how he fields the ball.

Rohit said in his postgame press conference that despite the “talk” surrounding KL Rahul’s form, he will be backed in the near future given his past record, as India won the match against Australia by six wickets and took a 2-0 lead in the series, retaining the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 for the home team.

Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid talk about KL Rahul

The Indian captain brought up Rahul’s hundred at Centurion last year and his previous feats at Lord’s.

“Of late there has been a lot of talk about his (KL Rahul) batting. For us as the management, we look at the potential of any individual, not just KL, and players with potential will get extended run,” stated Rohit.

“Batting at Lord’s on a damp wicket, it was one of the best hundreds I have seen, Centurion also, so he has potential and we are backing him,” he added.

Even though the Indian opener hasn’t been performing well as of late, Dravid argued that he should be given more playing time because of his track record and success on foreign pitches.

“KL Rahul has been one of our most successful overseas openers. He’s got hundred in South Africa, England and we’ll continue to back him. I believe he has the quality and class to come out of this phase,” stated the Indian head coach.

With a 115-run deficit to overcome, India bowled out Australia for 113 in their second innings in the second Test. As he claimed seven victims, Ravindra Jadeja stood out as the best of the bunch.

When Rohit’s team batted first, they scored 262 runs in response to Cummins’ team’s 263 run in the first innings.

Rohit Sharma said "We are backing Rahul, he has the potential, you need to find a method to score runs in these pitches, again we are not going to look too much at what an individual is doing, we look as a team, that is my thought on Rahul".

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 19, 2023