India have refrained from making any changes to their 17-member squad for the third and fourth Test matches against Australia. Contrary to popular opinion, opening batter KL Rahul has retained his place in the squad in spite of not crossing the 25-run mark even once in his last 10 Test innings.
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That being said, Rahul has been demoted as far as the leadership group is concerned. Vice-captain of the squad for the first two Tests, Rahul has been stripped off vice-captaincy for the remaining two matches.
The development could lead to the team management making him sit out of the Playing XI in the next match in spite of head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharm backing Rahul in different interviews after the recently concluded second Test in Delhi.
Rahul, who had grabbed a fantastic one-handed stunner to dismiss Usman Khawaja at the Arun Jaitley Stadium yesterday, has faced severe criticism lately for reasons which are justified considering how he has batted in both the matches.
Scoring some runs but not able to convert is one thing but Rahul’s current form sees him in an entirely different kind of rough patch. The 30-year old player has scored 38 runs at an average of 12.66 in this series till now.
Pacer Jaydev Unadkat, who had been released from the squad for his participation for Saurashtra in Ranji Trophy 2022-23 final match, will join the squad in Indore after leading his state team to a title.
IND vs AUS squad 2023
Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
Twitter rejoices as KL Rahul dropped from vice-captaincy
With an in-form batter in Shubman Gill also part of the squad, it would be really unfair on him if Rahul continues to play ahead of him in the third Test starting from March 1.
