Indian team was without the services of their captain Virat Kohli for the all important Asia Cup but stand in captain Rohit Sharma led the team fabulously and lead to its 7th Asia Cup title. The middle order woes was a big concern for India but somehow Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni managed to be amongst the runs till the Super 4 stage but they were exposed in the summit clash against Bangladesh where India won by 3 wickets to claim the trophy.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan again proved their mettle with the bat and were the big reasons why India remained undefeated in the tournament. Third opener in the team, KL Rahul warmed the bench but former India captain Kapil Dev feels Rahul should be in team management’s plan for 2019 World Cup in England.
Rahul was given a chance to open the innings with Ambati Rayudu in the dead rubber against Afghanistan where the Karnataka batsman managed to score a half-century. He was ousted in the finals making way for Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan at the start of the innings.
Kapil Dev feels KL Rahul can bat in the middle-order
Kapil Dev spoke to Telegraph and said that there is still good amount of time left for the world cup. He opined that team management should find a place for Rahul in the team and suggested that he could bat in the middle order.
“I’d like Rahul to be playing and it would be good if he figures in the World Cup. There are still eight months between now and the tournament, so there’s time for the team management to work things out. If Rahul is not going to open, he can still find a place in the middle order. After all, with the advent of the T20 game, I wouldn’t say there are fixed positions for batsmen,” he said.
Rahul will next feature in the test series against West Indies, starting 4 October.
