Former England captain Michael Vaughan feels that India should consider choosing KL Rahul over Shubman Gill as an opener in the World Test Championship final against Australia. The two cricketing powerhouses will clash against each other in the one-off Test at the Oval, England starting from June 7. The BCCI has announced the 15-man squad for the summit clash as Rohit Sharma will lead and open the innings for the side. Looking at the current form, Shubman Gill is expected to get a nod over Rahul as the opening partner for Rohit but Vaughan thinks otherwise.
The veteran English cricketer said that though Shubman is a dangerous player but Rahul has a better technique to bat in the tough English conditions where the pacers will get assistance from the surface.
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“The only change that they could make in English conditions is that KL Rahul plays the moving ball better than Shubman Gill. Shubman’s a tremendous young player, but you’ve got to win that one game of cricket. Forget history; it’s about picking the best XI to win the World Test Championship. When it’s straight, Shubman is a dangerous player, but I’ve seen a few little technical deficiencies. When the ball moves, he takes his hand a little bit too much towards the ball," Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.
He further suggested that India should pick the team considering it a one-off game and not think about who is going to be their opener in the next series.
“He snicks off quite consistently. I’m not sure they will do that (replace Shubman with KL Rahul) because I’m not in the selection room. (But) don’t pick a team based on what’s next or who’s going to play in the West Indies; you’ve got to pick the team for that one game of cricket," Vaughan told Cricbuzz.
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Meanwhile, Shubman has been in tremendous form across formats while Rahul is going through a lean patch and he struggling with poor form in both red and white-ball cricket. Rahul, who was India’s vice-captain for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, was dropped from the side after the first two Tests against Australia.
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