Former India captain and star batter Mohammed Azharuddin expressed his disappointment over KL Rahul's repeated batting failure and wants the national team coaches to start working his technical flaws.
"I think consistency is the problem in KL Rahul's case. But I think there are coaches who should rectify his flaws. In my opinion, he is a good player but consistency is missing in his game," Azharuddin said.
Rahul continued his patchy form in the first ODI against Sri Lanka as he again failed to score big despite getting a good start and was stumbled after scoring 39 off 29. However, India went on to win the match by 67 runs, thanks to Virat Kohli's blistering 113, but Rahul couldn't do much but only extended his saga of lean patch.
Azharuddin, who thinks that a player of Rahul's talent isn't realising his full potential, also stressed on domestic cricket as he said all senior players should take out time and play it.
"I think Rahul is getting out in a lot of manners. Primarily, it is not the good balls that are getting him out. It is poor shot selection first up that is causing problems," Azhar added.
It was skipper Rohit Sharma (83 off 67) and Kohli (113 off 87), who took up the mantle and scored the majority of runs in India's emphatic win over Sri Lanka in the ODI opener. Azhar feels that the duo will play a significantly instrumental role for India in the upcoming ODI World Cup.
"Both are very good and classy players and they have done well in the past too , as the records say. I do believe Kohli and Rohit will do fairly well in the World Cup. In ODI format, they have always been pretty consistent."
The 59-year-old, who had himself captained India between 1990 to 1999, also gave his two cents on Hardik Pandya's future as India's skipper in the shortest format of the game.
"Hardik has looked good as a leader and seems that he can carry the team along. But he needs to be careful about his back as he had been out for a long time. India would need Hardik, the all-rounder and we can't afford to risk injuries. Hardik has got a young team and that's the way forward. To forge a winning combination, it will need strong co-ordination for the upcoming T20 series," he concluded.
