India’s Think Thanks warns Rahul ahead of the Eng series

Former Indian cricketer WV Raman has warned the team’s think thank to be very clear about the batting order right from the 1st Test. Shubman Gill and co. will kick start their new WTC cycle with the five-match Test series against England, starting from June 20. Ahead of the tour, Raman stressed on the need for KL Rahul to step up to the occasion.

“Rahul obviously needs to step up”

Speaking to news agency IANS, Raman pointed out that Rahul was the most experienced of the lot and that there will be a lot of expectations from him. Further, the ex-Indian cricketer noted that the Karnataka batter had managed to get runs despite being shuffled up and down the order.

“It is going to be very interesting as to where he’s likely to be slotted right through the series, because we’ve seen K.L. Rahul going up and down the order in almost just about every format. The beauty of it is that he keeps getting runs as well,” Raman said.

It remains to be seen how the Indian batting order will look like. On Wednesday, the team’s net session in Beckenham hinted at a new top six featuring KL Rahul, Jaiswal, Gill, Nair, Pant and Jurel.

“But I think they (Indian team think-tank) need to try and have a very clear idea of who’s going to be batting where right through the series, because in a five-match series, you’ll have the opportunity of sussing things out and also trying to zoom in on the best possible combination that you could play for the later half of the series where things really hot up,” Raman added.

Speaking about Sai Sudharsan, Raman said he wasn’t sure if the batter will feature in the first two Tests. However, he heaped praise on the Tamil Nadu star’s temperament and noted that his experience of playing in County previously could come of good use to India.