JOIN US'Rahul deserves to start afresh'
One of the established norms of this team for the last one year or so has been to accommodate players, who have been out due to injuries or illness while in the field of action, back in the 11 the moment they return fit to the squad.
Karun Nair, despite scoring a triple ton in Chennai against England last year, had to sit out the next Test once the man he had replaced – Ajinkya Rahane – came back fit. In tune with that policy, KL Rahul is all set to take back his position at the top of the order for the second Test at the cost of Abhinav Mukund.
“Obviously KL has been our established opener,” Kohli said, talking about change in top-order. “I feel one of the openers will have to make way for KL because, what he's done in the past two years for us has been very solid, and he deserves to come back and start afresh in Test cricket again. Again, that's up to discussion. We have a team meeting later on, after practice. We'll be able to clarify that then, but yes, according to me KL will definitely come back into the 11,” he stressed.
Kohli then spoke of the importance to make Rahul feel at ease as frequent injuries can be difficult to cope with for the players, particularly when players break down while doing well.
“It is very important from that point of view specifically because he played the practice game as well and he looked really solid,” he began. “He has batted really well in the last couple of seasons for us. As I said, it is very important for us to make him feel that this is his spot. And it won’t be changed because of unfortunate events that happen outside of the playing field or the injuries that you can’t control. That phase you have to come back, get stronger. He has really stuck it out in that phase.
It is very important to make him feel secure and he deserves it because he has given us those big performances when the team has required the most. He is a guy that needs to be backed and we as a team, as management and me as captain all back him 100 per cent,” he elaborated.
The skipper also spoke as to why Shikhar Dhawan would be picked ahead of Abhinav. “I feel in a situation like this, you need to sit down and think which player has had more impact on the game. Who has been able to sort of make that difference in the game straight away. It all depends on who has had a better game, to be honest.”