After dropping in the upcoming series against New Zealand, KL Rahul's addition to the Board President's XI squad that will play New Zealand in two warm-up games starting here on Tuesday gives the discarded India batsman an opportunity to reclaim his spot in the national side. Over the last couple of months, the Karnataka batsman has been made to experience a roller coaster ride as far as his place in the India ODI squad is concerned.
From being termed "too good a player to sit out" by chairman of selectors MSK Prasad on August 14 to being made to 'sit out' of the playing XI after the 4th ODI against Sri Lanka in Colombo on August 31, to then being made to 'sit out' of the squad itself for the New Zealand series on October 14, Rahul's ODI career has gone on a dramatic downward spiral. The five wise men of Indian cricket prefer having the combo of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma at the top than Rahul and Sharma. And, with Hardik Pandya making all the right noises during his limited opportunities at No. 4 – a spot that Prasad reserved for Rahul during the Sri Lanka series – that position too seems to be slipping out of his hands rather quickly.
INDIA ‘A’ squad: Shreyas Iyer (C), Prithvi Shaw, Shivam Chaudhary, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Gurkeerat Mann, Milind Kumar, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Avesh Khan.
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