Panicky India hell bent on playing KL Rahul. But is that the right call?

The Indian team management is panicking ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and that has led in the selection of KL Rahul for the tour matches, feels Sanjay Manjrekar. Analysing India’s squad for the tour games against Australia A, Manjrekar said that the selectors have gotten their plans wrong in the build-up to the series.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar questioned the inclusion of KL Rahul in the India A matches, given that KL Rahul was dropped from the last 2 matches against New Zealand. Manjrekar criticised the selection after Rahul’s terrible performance in the tour games. India have lost both of their matches against Australia A so far, and have struggled to find a replacement for Rohit Sharma for the 1st Test match of the series, with Abhimanyu Easwaran and Ruturaj Gaikwad both struggling in Indian conditions.
Sharma is expected to miss the opening Test match in Perth, due to the birth of his second child.
“Clearly India is in panic mode. They are a bit shaken by what happened against New Zealand at home and that’s when plans start to go awry. And that is where I believe that one has to actually look at it in a different way, where you think there’s nothing to lose here, so that’s the time you go back and do the right thing and play players who deserve to get a chance. KL Rahul, I don’t know there’s some fascination that the team management and the selectors have for him, that they just want him to be a part of the playing XI whether it’s at the top or down the order. Maybe Easwaran hasn’t convinced them as much,” Sanjay Manjrekar said on ESPNcricinfo on Saturday, November 11.
Manjrekar was also bemused about KL Rahul’s selection in the tour games given his absence in the Pune and Mumbai Test matches, in India’s 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand. Manjrekar said that very few Indian players have got sustained support like KL Rahul has. Manjrekar believed that instead of Rahul, the correct call would be to play Abhimanyu Easwaran in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who has slogged in the domestic arena for many years.
“KL Rahul should consider himself very lucky to be getting opportunities. Such comebacks and opportunities, very few players over the years have been given. Whether he is up or down the order, the fact that he has received chances despite his average dropping, I guess somewhere they hope that KL Rahul will find the form that he is capable of. But I think that Easwaran opening with Jaiswal does not fill them up with confidence, but that will be the right thing to do,” Manjrekar concluded.