‘Not good for KL Rahul’: Former India captain questions Gautam Gambhir’s strategy

India’s KL Rahul (AP Photo) With the ODI series already secured after victories in the first two matches against Afghanistan, India took the opportunity to test different combinations and assess players outside of their established core group.The absence of senior figures Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah allowed the team management to experiment, especially in the batting order. Both Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill were given the opportunity at No.3, a position usually occupied by Kohli, and the pair responded with promising performances.However, one tactical decision continues to spark debate. KL Rahul, despite being one of India’s most experienced top-order batsmen, was once again deployed in a final role lower down the order. While Rahul played a blistering unbeaten 39 off 19 balls in the opening chase in the ODI, he was dismissed without scoring in the second match in Lucknow.Former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth believes that Rahul’s talents are not being fully utilized at the No.6 position and feels that the wicket-keeper batsman should be given more responsibility higher up the order.On his YouTube channel, Srikkanth said, “It’s not good for KL Rahul and the team if he bats at six. In my opinion, he has to bat at four or five at most. I think they can follow the rotation policy. In some games, rest, give chances and then pick a side.”The former opener also supported a rotation strategy in the remaining games, arguing that India should use the series to assess the depth of the squad and identify their strongest combination ahead of future tournaments.Additionally, Srikkanth expressed concern over the scheduling of the Afghanistan series and questioned whether the players were given enough time to recover from intense cricket. With the IPL and the Men’s T20 World Cup recently over and the Women’s T20 World Cup underway, he felt the timing of the ODI series was far from ideal.“Afghanistan are really not a great team. It’s sad. Now they’re going to play in Chennai where it’s going to be very hot. I don’t know how they’re going to play there. It’s not fair. I don’t think they should be playing in June. The T20 World Cup and IPL have just finished. Give them a break and the Women’s T20 World Cup should be the focus of the month? honest, no time for family, no vacation and most of all no mental break,” he stated.India will now head into the final ODI with the series already in the bag, while discussions about Rahul’s batting position and players’ workloads continue to be key talking points.