India head coach Gautam Gambhir, on Monday, responded to criticism around backing KL Rahul, who is yet to be given a specified role in the Indian Test line-up. The criticism came amid India backing the senior batter for a place in the playing XI in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Test series despite a slump in form.

Rahul was entrusted with the middle-order role when India began their Test calendar for the 2024 season in September. However, after a run of three matches, which included one fifty, he was dropped to make way for Sarfaraz Khan, who had impressed the management with his knock of 150 against New Zealand.

However, after the youngster struggled in the final two matches against the Kiwis earlier this month, returning with just 21 runs in four innings, including a duck, Rahul was sent to Australia early for an India A game where he was asked to open with the team management hoping that he could finally find form and replace Rohit Sharma in the Perth opener against Australia, with India captain reportedly set to miss the tie owing to the birth of his second child.

Amid the unidentified role of Rahul and India continuously backing the veteran of 51 Tests, who now has an average of just 33.87, Gambhir reminded that not many countries in the world have a batter pf his potential who can offer the flexibility in a Test line-up and keep wickets.

“KL Rahul can bat in the top order, he can bat at 3, he can play at 6 - so you need a lot of talent to do all these jobs & he keeps in ODIs - imagine how many countries have players like KL and he is one of the options if Rohit is not available,” he told the reporters in Mumbai ahead of India's departure for Perth.

Will KL Rahul play in Perth?

Although Gambhir remained tightlipped on Rohit's unavailability for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener, he did mention that India will pick between Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran to replace the 37-year-old.

However, both batters failed to impress in their India A stint. While Easwaran, who was initially backed for the backup opening role on the back of a stellar start to his first-class season in India, scored just 36 runs in two matches, including a duck, while showing considerable vulnerability against the bounce on Aussie tracks, Rahul scored 14 runs in his only appearance for India A.

Not to forget, India can also push Shubman Gill up the order, given his experience of opening across formats, before he chose the No. 3 role in the summer of 2023 to make way for Yashasvi Jaiswal in the XI.

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