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Abhishek Nayar, the assistant coach of the Indian cricket team, spoke about the indifferent run of form for KL Rahul in the Test format in recent times. The 40-year-old, who has worked with the right-handed batter during the ongoing Test series against Bangladesh, alluded to KL Rahul’s decent performances on South Africa tour at the turn of the year before stating that he and head coach Gautam Gambhir can bring a turnaround in his career.
For the unversed, KL Rahul averages just 34.12 in his 51 Test appearances for India after making his Test debut against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2014. Such underwhelming numbers for the Karnataka-born cricketer in Test cricket have been a constant theme, with him scoring only 297 runs in 10 innings at an average of 33 since the beginning of 2023 in six matches, but at the same time, he got a boxing day hundred against South Africa on a spicy pitch in Centurion.
KL Rahul is someone who understands his game very well: Abhishek Nayar
A day prior to India taking on Bangladesh in the second Test match at the Green Park in Kanpur, Abhishek Nayar explained what’s been going on with KL Rahul since he joined the team as the assistant coach. He was quoted as saying, as per Cricbuzz, “When you are playing for India, inspiration is not something you need. Sometimes it is just direction, and I feel, having spent a little time with KL in the last few days, he is someone who understands his game very well. Yes, there are times when a player is sort of finding his feet.”
Abhishek Nayar also pointed out the performances of KL Rahul in the two-match Test series for India in South Africa at the turn of 2024, which could be the level the right-handed batter can reach with constant support and guidance from the current Indian coaching staff. He said, “I feel, in South Africa, he (KL Rahul) played tremendous knocks for India when he was there. So we are very hopeful with the kind of conversation that Gauti [Gautam Gambhir] bhai and I have had with him, that hopefully we can have a turnaround in KL as well. These things sometimes take time.”
In the next few months, India are slated to play a plethora of Test matches at home and overseas, and the form of KL Rahul could end up being a difference maker in winning and losing.
