India's head coach Gautam Gambhir on Monday threw his weight behind the under-fire batsman KL Rahul, saying that he remains an integral part of India's plans on the tour of Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Addressing the media before departure for Australia with the second batch of players, Gambhir said Rahul is a kind of player that not many teams have.
"KL Rahul can bat in the top order, he can bat at No. 3, he can play at No. 6. So you need a lot of talent to do all these jobs, and he keeps (wickets) in ODIs. Imagine how many countries have players like KL!" said the coach.
"He is one of the options (to open batting) if Rohit is not available (for the first Test)."
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Rahul was dropped after the first Test against New Zealand and then flew early to Australia to join the India 'A' squad for practice.
Rahul's audition in India A's second unofficial Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was, thus, crucial to his chances of playing an opener's role in the first Test. With skipper Rohit likely to miss the first Test because of personal reasons, India are weighing their options for an opener to partner Yashaswi Jaiswal.
But Rahul had a forgettable outing in Melbourne.
He totaled just 14 runs in the two innings, which saw him scoring four runs in the first knock and 10 in the second. His bizarre dismissal, bowled through his legs while facing a spinner, in the second innings brought a lot of criticism for the 32-year-old batsman.
Before that, he scored just 12 runs in two innings of the first Test against New Zealand. In the two Tests against Bangladesh preceding the NZ series, he scored 106 runs in three innings, with a highest of 68.
His overall inconsistent run, along with the unimpressive show of the other opening option for Perth, Abhimanyu Easwaran, must have increased the headache for coach Gambhir.
On the question of Rohit's availability for the first Test, Gambhir said, "There is no confirmation. Hopefully, he is going to be available. Everything we will get to know before the start of the series.
"(Jasprit) Bumrah is the vice-captain. So obviously if Rohit is unavailable, he will lead the side."
