“He is not the first one and he is not the last one…respect the fact that he is our own player”, Harbhajan Singh comes out in support of KL Rahul amid widespread trolls on him

Before the start of the current Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, KL Rahul’s feet were firmly planted in the proverbial boiling pot when it was decided that he, and not Shubman Gill, would open the batting with Rohit Sharma.

With his dismal performance in the first two Tests (20, 17, and 1), it should come as no surprise that a significant portion of the online community has gone ballistic and is demanding his immediate dismissal from the squad.

Rahul has a dismal batting average of 12.50, having scored a total of 125 runs throughout his past 10 Test innings with a top score of only 23. Since January 2022, he has been on a streak of consistently poor scores, innings after innings, and this demands criticism, and maybe calls for his dismissal.

Commentator Aakash Chopra, who may be rooting for KL Rahul to succeed, went to fight with former Indian bowler Venkatesh Prasad, who has been continuously critical of Rahul due to his mediocre results. Chopra even went so far as to criticize Prasad, calling him an agenda seller against the Indian opener.

Harbhajan Singh comes out in support of KL Rahul

After reading the many scathing remarks directed at Rahul since the conclusion of the second Test, and maybe the latest verbal ding-dong between Prasad and Chopra, former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh came to his Twitter profile a few minutes ago to provide his thoughts on the subject.

Harbhajan Singh agrees with Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid that Rahul will recover well and start scoring runs again. Moreover, he pleaded with supporters to trust him and stop treating a player from their nation as if he were a criminal.

Can we leave @klrahul alone guys ? He hasn’t done any crime.He is still a top player. He will come back strong.we all go thru such patches in international cricket.he is not the first one and last one. so please respect the fact that he is our own 🇮🇳 player and have faith 🙏

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) February 21, 2023

Dravid has made it clear that he would continue supporting the out-of-form opener, with Rohit Sharma’s belief in Rahul’s enormous potential, which he bases on Rahul’s track record in Overseas Tests.

The third Test starts on March 1st, in Indore, and it is still up in the air whether or not Rahul would be benched.