'It is a good thing that team India is backing KL Rahul'- Former India international Wasim Jaffer opens up on opener’s underwhelming outings

Rohit Sharma’s team India has won two off their three matches with their recent result being the loss to South Africa in the Super 12 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. While every department of the side appears to be picking up their form, opener KL Rahul has been rather underwhelming with the bat for his side on all three occasions against- Pakistan, the Netherlands, and South Africa.

However, the skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid have backed the player to continue with the squad and will not drop him from the playing XI just yet. Former India international Wasim Jaffer too has backed the player but opined that Rahul will soon need to hit the ground running.

“I don’t think we’ve lost because KL Rahul hasn’t been able to perform. That’s certainly a worrisome part, there’s no doubt. Rahul has been fantastic for the last two and a half years, especially in white-ball cricket. The form right now is obviously concerning but I think if Indian team is backing him, that’s a good thing! Either you change it right now or give him the full support.

"Rahul will feel happy that the think tank of the side have backed him. With this support, you tend to play freely without any tension of getting dropped,” said Jaffer while speaking on 'BatBricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti' on CricTracker.

I hope he comes out good: Wasim Jaffer

“There’s no question regarding the quality of KL Rahul and that can happen in T20 cricket as you have to take a lot of risk playing in the powerplay. But once he gets going, he’ll be fantastic. So it’s a good thing that the team is backing him and I hope he comes out, good! Because the team requires his runs as he is a player who can score you 70-80 runs and he can play both spin and fast, so India will need him to get back in form,” added Jaffer.

India play Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in their forthcoming fixtures and will hope for KL Rahul to click before the semi-finals of the tournament.