NEW DELHI: Ahead of the second Test against New Zealand in Pune, Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir had put his weight behind an under-fire KL Rahul, saying that the team management backs him to score big.
Pointing out that Rahul’s criticism on social media doesn’t bother him a bit, Gambhir explicitly said that only team management’s opinion on the India batter is important.
But, the toss on Thursday morning came as a surprise for many as skipper Rohit Sharma announced three changes in the playing XI which included Rahul being dropped.
Alongside Rahul, pacer Mohammed Siraj and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav were also benched as Akash Deep, Washington Sundar and a fit-again Shubman Gill were included in the side.
Soon after India’s U-turn on Rahul, social media was abuzz with reactions in favour and against India the batter.
Rahul had scored 0 and 12 in the first New Zealand Test which the team lot by 8 wickets.
With Sarfaraz Khan scoring a mighty impressive 150 in the second innings and Rahul failing in both, the snub of the middle-order batter was being predicted.
Trailing 1-0 in the three-match series, under-pressure India are looking for a win to maintain their unbeaten series run at home since 2012.
