Ajit Agarkar reveals the reason behind not picking KL Rahul for T20 World Cup 2024
The India squad for the T20 World Cup 2024 had a few surprises regarding the inclusion and exclusion of players. While some selections looked bizarre, a couple of omissions were also weird and unexpected.
KL Rahul was one of the most notable exclusions from India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2024. He was part of the main core till the last T20 World Cup but was overlooked this season.
Despite being a wicketkeeper-batter, Rahul couldn’t find a spot in the 15-member squad or the reserves on the trip to the West Indies and the USA. Indeed, his performances weren’t as impressive in this format, but the selectors have often reverted to experience, so Rahul’s exclusion was a bold move.
While he batted in his preferred position, Rahul hardly performed against formidable units in the past two editions of the event. His selection would have been unfair on other consistent and deserving performers in the circuit.
Ajit Agarkar reveals the reason behind KL Rahul’s exclusion
In the press conference, Ajit Agarkar revealed the reason behind not selecting KL Rahul. He exclaimed Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant are more suited in the middle order, tempting to make such a massive decision.
“We are looking at guys who can bat in the middle. KL (Rahul) is batting at the top. It's not about if KL is better or these guys are better, it's about the slots that we needed, and we felt these two are equipped better at this point of time."
Initially, Rahul was reported planning to bat in the middle order in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season but continued to open for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) from the first game. While he has prior experience of batting in the middle order in other formats for India, T20 is a different format altogether and requires a certain tempo, which is different to batting in ODIs.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant has always batted at No.4 or 5 for India and Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL. While Sanju Samson bats at No.3 for Rajasthan Royals (RR), he can be flexible with his batting position and has previously batted in the middle order for India.
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