The brain games have begun! Australian quick Scott Boland has expressed interest in having a crack at India’s middle-order batter KL Rahul. Part of Australia’s A side, Boland didn’t play the first unofficial Test against Ruturaj Gaikwad’s India A but might just get a chance to play the second and last game. If given the chance, Boland would like to go hard at Rahul, who was added to the India A squad soon after New Zealand whitewashed Rohit Sharma’s team 3-0 at home.
Tough time awaits KL Rahul?
The match will be played at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground from November 7-10 and will serve as India’s last practice game before the 1st Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test kicks off on November 22 in Perth. Before the match, Boland laid out how the Australian time wants to get top of Rahul and ruffle his feather so that he’s a no-show throughout the 5-match series.
“I was lucky to bowl to him in a Test over in India a couple of years ago, but it’ll be nice to play against him in our backyard. He’s a world-class player, but someone I think we can get on top of pretty early and hopefully stay on top of him for the majority of the summer,” Boland said.
No place for Rahul in India’s XI
Although Scott Boland has expressed the desire to keep KL Rahul quiet in the BGT, there is no certainty over his spot in India’s starting XI. He was dropped midway through the New Zealand series, and Sarfaraz Khan was preferred over him. As of now, we aren’t sure whether Rohit Sharma will be available at the start of the series. Some might think Rahul will cover for him and open, but India is already taking an extra opener in Abhimanyu Easwaran for that.
KL Rahul’s record in Australia
Moreover, Rahul’s record in Australia is extremely poor. Despite scoring his maiden Test century in Australia, he averaged just 20.77 Down Under. In 5 matches, he’s scored just 187 runs, and if you remove the hundred he scored (110), he’s scored just 77 runs in 8 innings.
| Mat | Inns | Runs | Avg | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 9 | 187 | 20.77 | 1 | 0 |
