“Social media doesn’t decide Team India’s Playing XI”: Gautam Gambhir gives full support to out-of-form player ahead of second Test against New Zealand
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir has given his full support to KL Rahul, who is out of form, ahead of the second Test against New Zealand, scheduled to start on October 24 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The hosts are 0-1 down, having lost the opening contest by 8 wickets in Bengaluru.
KL Rahul scored 0 and 12, and several former cricketers and the fans want the management to drop him from the playing group.
Rahul was not promoted to the batting order despite Shubman Gill’s absence on his home ground. Sarfaraz Khan, who replaced Gill, scored 150 runs in the second innings against Tom Latham’s team.
“Social media doesn’t decide Team India’s Playing XI. We don’t give importance to what is being said on social media or what the experts think about a particular player. It is the decision of the team management. KL Rahul played a good knock on the challenging Kanpur pitch. I know he would want to score big, but this team management will back him,” Gautam Gambhir said at the pre-match press conference.
Rahul scored 68 runs off 43 balls in India’s only innings in the Kanpur Test against Bangladesh.
Gambhir confirmed that Shubman Gill is fit. “We haven’t decided the playing XI and will take a call tomorrow. Gill has recovered and we will go for a win in the second game,” he added.
India were bowled out for 46 in their first innings. However, the batters performed better in the second essay, as the team posted 462. Gambhir mentioned that his team will always go for a win as draws are boring. “Draws look boring these days. With a lot of T20 cricket happening, I don’t think we will see teams play for a draw in Test format.”
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