The Indian Test team’s batting lineup is based on the foundation laid by the thre𒉰e pillars in th♓e middle order, namely, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane.
The number three, four and five has been constant in the ever-changing Ind🦩ian lineups. However, the Indian cricket team’s tale in the white-ball cricket has been entirely different.
The Men in Blue boasts a top-heavy lineup in the form of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and captain Kohli.
The famous top-three of the Indian team has been so formidable that the middle-order hardly gets t🐲o bat, resulting in its brittleness, whi♏ch has been found out by quality teams.
Moreover, the likes of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rah🐈ul, following a successful series against Australia and New Zealand have staked their claims for the middle-order in the limited-overs format.
Cricketer-turned-comme💮ntator, Sanjay Manjrekar, recently answered the calls of Rahul replacing Rahane for the number five position even in Test cricket.
According to Manjrekar, Rahane’s form has been quite꧅ rusty, frequently ‘on and off’, with sporadic patches of brilliance.
“KL Rahul has been brilliant at number five. Yes granted💛, Rahane 🅷doesn’t look the same player he was in the first two years of his Test career, and I would like to see that kind of form coming back,” Manjrekar said in his YouTube channel.
“It (Rahane’s form) comes in little spurts, sometimes, but not as consistently as he would like. But based on his runs that he has got, I don’t think🔯 it is right to think of Rahul at numb෴er five in Test matches,” added the former Mumbai cricketer.
Rahul mad📖e a mark in Test cricket earlie♍r at the opening slot, narrowly missing out on his double-ton against England at Chennai in 2016.
The Karnataka stalwart lost his place to fellow state teammate Mayank Agarwal and white-ball champion Ro꧑h🌺it Sharma.
“The la🌄st time he (Rahul) played Test cricket, he wasn’t that impressive and let’s not get too carried away with a batsman getting runs in T20 and 50 overs cricket and push into Test match cricket. So, (for) KL Rahul to nudge the Indian batsman at the test level in the middle-order, he will have to get a truckload of runs at the domestic level, just like (Mayank) Agarwal did to get in the Indian team,” concluded Manjrekar.
