Brad Hogg, the former Australian spinner, praised India’s decision to omit out-of-form opener KL Rahul from the third Test of the ongoing series against Australia. Hogg argued that the move allowed India to bring in a player like Shubman Gill at the right time. During a live session on his YouTube channel on Wednesday, March 8, the 52-year-old said: “India got rid of KL Rahul in the last Test match, which I think was a good thing. There was an opportunity to bring Shubman Gill in, and I thought that was a perfect scenario.”
Following a series of lacklustre showings in red-ball cricket, Rahul’s form had been put under the microscope. Over three innings, the right-handed batsman had contributed only 38 runs with an abysmal average of 12.66 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Meanwhile, Gill, who had replaced Rahul for the third Test, also failed to impress, earning scores of 21 and five.
Brad Hogg proposed that India maintain a delicate balance of experience and youth in their batting lineup instead of simultaneously removing all the underperforming seniors. The ex-cricketer suggested that if Cheteshwar Pujara faces a form crisis in the coming days, Team India could consider removing him and bringing Prithvi Shaw to the opening position while Rohit Sharma drops the order. He said further: “India have got rid of Ajinkya Rahane and got Shreyas Iyer in. So there are a few changes there. You’ve got to have that mixture of youth and experience, and India is doing it very well now. If Cheteshwar Pujara starts dropping off again over the next year, another young player will come in. It could be a Prithvi Shaw-type player.
“You might see Rohit Sharma, with his experience, just go down the order a bit and have Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill open and set up that opening combination for another ten years in the future.”
The team’s batting in the Indore Test was disappointing, as they were dismissed for just 109 and 163 runs. With a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) on the line, the home team needs to perform much better in the remaining fixtures to secure a place in the WTC.
