'Rahul terribly out of form': India legend lists ‘problems’ for Rohit's men
India's batting and fielding woes were laid put bear during their bruising five-wicket loss to South Africa on Sunday in the 2022 T20 World Cup. The match went down the wire, with David Miller taking the Proteas over the line with only two balls to spare chasing a target of 134 but India could have even won the match had they held on to a few dropped catches and converted a few run out chances.
However, India's problems started with the batting, with a fiery South African fast bowling unit battering into their top order and sending half the side back in the hut in the first 10 overs. Among the Indian top four, it was only opener KL Rahul who could not get into double digits, scoring nine off 14 balls before becoming the second player to fall to Lungi Ngidi in the fifth over. This continued a dismal run in the tournament for Rahul, who is yet to get to a double digit score in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
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Legendary former India wicketkeeper-batter Farokh Engineer has said that India may need to consider replacing Rahul with Rishabh Pant. “India need to quickly find some solutions after their chastening defeat to South Africa on Sunday. Their first problem is opening batsman KL Rahul who is terribly out of form. The way he was out, it was like he was giving catching practice. He just glided the ball into the first slip. An opening batsman doesn't do that!” said Engineer in his column for Khaleej Times.
Engineer said that he has “a very high opinion of Rahul, who is vice-captain of the team, as a "very, very capable batsman". “But in this World Cup, he just hasn't done anything. So are you going to replace him at this stage? Are you going to get Rishabh Pant to open the innings? I don't know,” said Engineer.
Engineer also said that captain Rohit Sharma may have erred in choosing to bat first in the match. “I won't take away any credit from South Africa. They bowled really, really well. But what surprised me is that India won the toss and elected to bat on a green wicket that was helpful to seamers. I think India didn't read the wicket properly,” he said.
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