After failing in the first two matches of the Test series against Australia, many former cricketers, especially Venkatesh Prasad, used harsh words against KL Rahul and demanded that he be dropped from the team.
Image Credit source: BCCI
New Delhi: The new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) is starting from 31 March. Like every time, in this season too, some special teams and players will be under watch. If we talk about the last few years, KL Rahul, the star batsman of the Indian cricket team, is one of those players who have scored a lot of runs with the bat. Good performance will be expected from the captain of Lucknow Super Giants. However, some former cricketers have also raised questions about Rahul’s recent form. In such a situation, Gautam Gambhir, former veteran of the Indian cricket team, has jumped in the defense of Rahul.
During the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series against Australia, there was a demand to drop Rahul from the team, who failed in two consecutive Tests. During this, former Indian fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad, coming from Karnataka, looked particularly aggressive and in several tweets used strong words about Rahul and questioned the opportunities he was getting in the team.
‘No pressure on Rahul’
After this, Rahul was dropped in the next two Tests and then in the first ODI against Australia, he won by pulling India out of a difficult situation. In such a situation, Rahul is again in the center of discussion. LSG’s mentor Gambhir has expressed surprise over the criticism being leveled against him. Gambhir termed any kind of pressure on Rahul wrong. The former Indian opener praised Rahul’s performance while referring to the centuries he scored in the IPL.
‘Former cricketers need masala’
During an interview on a YouTube channel, Gambhir defended the captain of his team on the criticisms of former cricketers on Rahul. Without naming Venkatesh Prasad, Gambhir accused former cricketers of adding masala in the name of criticism and said that these former cricketers do such things to keep themselves active.
Last year, under the leadership of Rahul, LSG secured the third position in its very first season. Gambhir also praised the performance of the team under the leadership of Rahul and made it clear that no team can win the title on the basis of one player alone. Now Gambhir will hope that after defending so much, Rahul will perform well in this season as well and his team can also reach closer to the title.