KL Rahul's Place in Indian Team Under Scrutiny After Poor Test Performance

KL Rahul's poor performance in the first Test against New Zealand has put his place in the Indian team under scrutiny. The 32-year-old scored 0 and 12 in the two innings, and his struggles in the middle order contributed to India's collapse in both essays and an eventual 8-wicket loss.

Ahead of the second Test in Pune, India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate stressed that Rahul enjoys a long rope from the head coach Gautam Gambhir. However, ten Doeschate also acknowledged that there is a fight for a spot between Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan, who impressed in the first Test.

"Yeah, there's no point in sugarcoating it, there's a fight for a spot," said ten Doeschate. "Sarfaraz was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL after the last Test (and) said how many balls do you play at (and) miss at? He didn't play at (and) miss at one ball and that's what tends to happen when you're not getting runs."

"There's certainly no concerns about KL, he's batting nicely, he's in a good mental space. But we are certainly going to have to fit seven pieces into six spots for this Test and look at the pitch now and decide what's going to be best for the team."

"Gauti [Gautam Gambhir] is keen to give him a long rope like Sanju [Sanju Samson]," he added.

Rahul's dismissal in the second innings in Bengaluru came at a point when India had gained momentum, courtesy of a stand between Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant. Losing Rahul at that stage put the Indian cricket team on the back foot, which led to a batting collapse.

Now, as India look to make their way back into the three-match series, starting with the second Test on October 24 (Thursday), KL Rahul will be keen to make amends.

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