Will KL Rahul play in place of Sarfaraz in BGT 2024?
The former opening batter Akash Chopra doubts Sarfaraz Khan’s batting technique for playing in Australia. He is concerned about Sarfaraz’s unusual batting style against fast bowlers. Let’s look at Will KL Rahul play in place of Sarfaraz in BGT 2024?
India will play a five-match Test against Australia in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy(BGT) for this trophy India announced an 18-member squad, while KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel, and Sarfaraz Khan were selected as middle-order batters.
In a YouTube video former cricketer Akash Chopra expressed his preference for KL Rahul over Sarfaraz Khan for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Despite Sarfaraz scoring 150 runs in a Test match against New Zealand, Chopra believes that KL Rahul or Dhruv Jurel would be better choices for the squad than Sarfaraz Khan.
He also mentioned that both players were sent to Australia A for Test matches. With Rohit Sharma possibly unavailable for the first match of BGT, this increases the chances for Rahul and Jurel to play.
In the video, Chopra said, “KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel have been sent to play in the India A game. In my very humble opinion, if you ask me to do a toss-up even today that you have to play one of KL Rahul and Sarfaraz in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Sarfaraz scored 150 for sure, give it to him, but I will say go with KL Rahul,”
“If you tell me that you have to play one of Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel, assuming one of them can play in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, I might still be tempted to go with Dhruv Jurel. My simple reason for that is I am not 100% certain about Sarfaraz’s playing style,“ he added.
🤨 Dhruv Jurel and KL Rahul will travel to Australia early and are set to play in the 2nd A game. What does this indicate? Are India relying on them to score runs, especially in the absence of Rohit? Let’s explore the possibilities in today’s Aakashvani.https://t.co/B9bau9mv8V pic.twitter.com/MkWmLViUAW
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 5, 2024
Border-Gavaskar Trophy Dates & Venues:
| Match No. | Date | Stadium | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Test | 22-26, November | Perth Stadium | Perth |
| 2nd Test | 06-10, December | Adelaide Oval | Adelaide |
| 3rd Test | 14-18, December | The Gabba | Brisbane |
| 4th Test | 26-30, December | Melbourne Cricket Ground | Melbourne |
| 5th Test | 3–7, January | Sydney Cricket Ground | Sydney |
Border-Gavaskar Trophy Indian Squad:
Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Mohammad Shami, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar
