Just as KL Rahul cemented his place as an opening batsman in the Indian Test team, he suffered a hamstring injury which kept him out of action for more than six weeks. In the meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan [who also suffered an injury] and Gautam Gambhir got their opportunities at the top of the order and failed to impress.
Rahul returned to action in Round Six of the Ranji Trophy on Sunday and showed what the Indian team was missing. He scored 76 and 106 in two innings as his team Karnataka would beat Team Rajasthan by 393 runs.
The Indian selectors wasted no time in recalling the 24-year-old to the Indian Test side to face England in the second Test of their five-match series at Visakhapatnam on Thursday. It also helped that the Ranji Trophy match Rahul was playing in was at Vizianagaram, just 66 kilometres away from Vizag.
Gambhir’s poor scores (18, 0) in the first Test at Rajkot might have also played a role in the decision.
The moment Lokesh Rahul showed he was fit, and scored runs, he deserved to be in. Good to see selectors proactive. But a message to Gambhir?
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 15, 2016
Speaking on the eve of the Vizag Test, Indian Test captain Virat Kohli stressed on the point that KL Rahul was always India’s number one choice as opener and will walk into the line-up as he has fully recovered from his injury.
“We had it pretty clear in our heads that KL is our number one choice along with Vijay. He is fit at any stage, he comes back into the team and we are going to start with him. Be it pulling him out of a first-class game in between. It’s within the rules and the regulations,” said Kohli.
“We were waiting for him to recover as soon as possible. That’s how the team combinations go, you go with what you think is the best for the team. Don’t think we needed to think any differently to call back Rahul. We are glad that he’s back in the side again. That was the whole idea behind it.”
Rahul has scored 562 runs in nine Tests, with three hundreds to his name. He has hit a purple patch this year, having notched up a century in all formats of the game in international cricket since June.
