‘Not okay for KL Rahul to keep in ODIs’: Nayan Mongia

Team India’s newest designated wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul has been on a roll lately. Everything he has touched seems to come out well. KL has done the role of an opener in ODIs and also the role of a one-down batsman as well as two down batsman. In T20Is too he has opened the innings and done exceptionally well. He is such a form with the bat which pundits would like to call a – “purple patch”.

Temporary gloveman
It is not often that we see teams go with temporary wicketkeeper in their playing 11 especially when another keeper who is a regular starter is just finding his form with the bat. Former Team India wicket-keeper batsman Nayan Mongia is of opinion that KL Rahul is a “temporary wicket keeper” and should not be considered a specialist particularly for the longer format of the game.

Speaking about this Mongia said

He can be a good second wicket-keeper. He cannot be a permanent wicket-keeper in ODIs. T20s it is still okay but not in ODIs. There should be a regular keeper but he can be a second option.

Will his batting be affected?

KL Rahul has not shown any rustiness in his performances of late but a dip in form can come any moment. Currently, he is having a glorious run with the bat and can do no wrong but one has to say that maintaining this for very long is next to impossible. Nayan Mongia the former India keeper who has had a decent amount of games in ODIs (140 Odis to be exact) as a keeper has given his say on this topic

His (Rahul’s) batting will be affected if he is a regular keeper. He is more important to the team as a batsman than a wicket-keeper batsman.

When saying this he also maintained that KL has a better technique as a keeper than Rahul Dravid who kept wickets even during 2003 world cup for India but the game is played in such a high calibre in this era and any imperfections will be shown out immediately. So he cannot afford to miss a single dismissal behind the wickets as he will be under immense scrutiny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6J2AhRZ8CA