Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad has never minced words when it comes to criticising KL Rahul who went through a rough patch in international cricket before getting sidelined by injury. Rahul is set to make his return to the ODI outfit in the upcoming Asia Cup. Ahead of Rahul’s return, Prasad revealed that he visited the Swami Narayan temple in New Jersey with Rahul's father-in-law Suniel Shetty and prayed for the wicketkeeper-batter’s form.
Prasad tweeted on X with a selfie with Shetty: “Visited the Swami Narayan temple in New Jeresy [sic] with Anna. Prayed for well being of all Bharatvasis & for the Indian Team to do well in the World Cup. Also secretely prayed for KL to smash it to all corners, have a great world cup and silence his critics like me. Sab khush rahein.”
Prasad has been very vocal in his criticism of Rahul as he has not been able to live up to expectations in Test cricket despite the long rope. On the other hand, Prasad had even praised the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper when he scored a half-century against Australia before Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
"I've got nothing against anybody but it's just that whatever I feel I say it. Few people take it; few don't. It's up to them. It's not that I've only spoken about KL Rahul," Prasad had said.
Meanwhile, Rahul has shown progress at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), Bengaluru. Videos of him batting alongside Shreyas Iyer in the practice matches have made rounds on the internet as well.
When the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad for the Asia Cup, the chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar picked up a fresh niggle and is expected to regain fitness before the event. Agarkar clarified that he has recovered from the injury he picked up during IPL in the clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Rahul is likely to bat in the middle order. At the press conference, skipper Rohit Sharma also made it clear that middle order positions will be flexible which means Rahul may get promoted to no.4 or bat down the order as the situation demands.
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