Former Indian cricketer Venkatesh Prasad has emerged as a staunch critic of India’s top-order batter KL Rahul as the latter is experiencing a slump in his batting form. It was his poor form with the bat that KL Rahul has lost the position of vice-captain from the Test format and is expected to be dropped or replaced by Shubman Gill at the top order in the remaining two Test matches against Australia.
Meanwhile, Venkatesh Prasad is least hesitant in launching sharp criticism of the Indian batter and at times he has also criticized team management for backing up Rahul, while many in-form batters wait for the opportunity.
Although Prasad has clarified his position by stating that he has nothing against him, instead he ‘wishes well for him (KL Rahul)’, a Twitter user has lashed out at the former Indian cricketer by stating that Prasad is ‘leading an online mob towards a cricketer who's struggling.’
In his Twitter thread, the Twitter user (@gurkiratsgill) claimed that the worst part of Venkatesh Prasad criticizing KL Rahul is that being a sportsman, Prasad has failed to have any empathy towards a sportsman.
“There hasn’t been anything constructive about his criticism. And sorry to say this, but if you’re truly going to argue and say that Shikhar and Mayank were better openers (despite their technical weaknesses as clear as day), you didn't deserve to be the chief selector,” Twitter user tweeted.
Additionally, he further compared Venkatesh Prasad’s treatment towards KL Rahul with the behaviour of an obsessive ex towards their ex-partner. “There's absolutely nothing objective about it. You want to read something objective, read Jarrod's piece on KL,” he concluded.
In his fresh attack on KL Rahul, Venkatesh Prasad compared the overseas batting records of KL Rahul with Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal and Ajinkya Rahane.
Prasad claims that veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has the best average as an opening batter, while Ajinkya Rahane, ‘despite being out of form and also inconsistent before being dropped, had one of the best overseas Test records, averaging over 40 overseas in 50 test matches.’