'He needs to play county cricket': Ex-India cricketer's advice to KL Rahul after poor show

India on Sunday defeated Australia in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. India won the match by 6 wickets thanks to some brilliant performances from the spinners. Ravindra Jadeja was once again named the player of the match as he picked up a seven-wicket haul in Australia's second innings. In total, Jadeja took 10 wickets, three of which came in the first innings on Friday. 

Despite India's excellent show in the second Test match, there were a couple of players who failed to perform including the vice-captain KL Rahul. Over the past few months, KL Rahul has been struggling to perform at his best. During the second Test in Delhi, he only managed to score 18 runs. In the first innings of the match, he was dismissed for 17, and in the final innings, he was sent back to the pavilion by Nathan Lyon after scoring just 1 run off 3 balls.

In the first Test match in Nagpur, Rahul was able to score just 20 runs before being dismissed by Todd Murphy. In the second innings of the same match, he did not get the chance to bat as India's bowlers bowled out Australia for just 91 runs, resulting in a victory by innings and 132 runs. Talking about Rahul's performance, former India cricketer Venkatesh Prasad said the opener needs to play County Cricket and score runs there for him to earn his place back in the team. 

A few people thinking i have something personal against KL Rahul. Infact it is the opposite. I wish well for him and playing him in such form was never going to enhance his confidence. For him to earn his place back in Test cricket, now that the domestic season has ended, cont.

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad)

Rahul needs to play County cricket in England , score runs and earn his place back, much like Pujara did when he was dropped. Playiing Test Cricket for the country and doing everything possible to get back in form will be the best answer. But will it be possible to skip the IPL?

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad)

Meanwhile, the BCCI on Sunday announced the squad for the remaining two Tests against Australia. KL Rahul has not been named as the vice-captain of the team in the squad unveiled by the BCCI earlier today. It could be due to his string of poor performances that Rahul may have lost his job as vice-captain for the Test team. 

India's squad for the last two Tests vs Australia

India’s Test squad for the third and fourth Test against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), K L Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.

Image: bcci.tv