India Coach Abhishek Nayar Hopes for KL Rahul’s Comeback in Bangladesh Series
India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar is hopeful that KL Rahul will soon meet the expectations and performances associated with him. Rahul has been struggling with his batting and is working to rejoin the team after being ruled out of the England series due to injury earlier this year.
He made his first Test appearance for India since the England series against Bangladesh in Chennai. In the first inning, he scored 16 runs before being dismissed by Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Ahead of the second Test, Nayar revealed that he and head coach Gautam Gambhir had conversations with Rahul, but his turnaround could take some time.
Nayar said, “When you are playing for India, inspiration is something that you don’t need. Sometimes it is just direction. With KL having spent a little time with him in the past few days, I think he understands his game pretty well. I think, in South Africa, he played tremendous knocks for India. So we are hopeful for the kind of conversation that Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) and I have had with him. Hopefully, we can have a turnaround in KL as well. These things sometimes take time.”
In the second inning of the opening Test, Rahul showed glimpses of returning to his former self by striving hard to find consistency in his game. He scored 22* off 19 deliveries, with a strike rate of 115.79, hitting the boundary four times.
Nayar added, “But I feel with the way he is batting, I know we didn’t give him much of a shot in the second inning in the last game. But the way he was batting in the second innings is the kind of cricket we are hoping and expecting from him. I am pretty sure going forward, we will see those expectations and those performances.”
Rahul has played 50 Tests in his career, scoring 2863 runs at an average of 34.08, with eight centuries and 14 fifties. He is keen to find his form in the second Test, which will begin on Friday in Green Park. India has retained the same squad from the first Test.
India Squad for the 2nd Test against Bangladesh
| Player |
|---|
| Rohit Sharma (C) |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal |
| Shubman Gill |
| Virat Kohli |
| KL Rahul |
| Sarfaraz Khan |
| Rishabh Pant (WK) |
| Dhruv Jurel (WK) |
| R Ashwin |
| R Jadeja |
| Axar Patel |
| Kuldeep Yadav |
| Mohd. Siraj |
| Akash Deep |
| Jasprit Bumrah |
| Yash Dayal |
Doubts Revealed
Abhishek Nayar -: Abhishek Nayar is a former Indian cricketer who is now working as an assistant coach for the Indian cricket team.
KL Rahul -: KL Rahul is a famous Indian cricketer known for his batting skills. He plays for the Indian national team.
Bangladesh Series -: The Bangladesh Series is a set of cricket matches played between the national teams of India and Bangladesh.
Green Park -: Green Park is a cricket stadium located in Kanpur, India, where cricket matches are held.
First Test -: The First Test refers to the first match in a series of Test cricket games. Test cricket is a format of the game that can last up to five days.
Second Test -: The Second Test is the second match in a series of Test cricket games between two teams.
Modest performance -: A modest performance means that someone did not perform very well, but also not very badly. It was just okay.