Rahul Dravid is confident about KL Rahul’s wicketkeeping duties in the South African Test series
Right-handed batsman KL Rahul has taken a total of 48 catches and has five to his credit while playing as a wicketkeeper for India so far.
New Delhi: Indian cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid has expressed his opinion that he is looking forward to seeing KL Rahul keep wickets for the team ahead of the two-match Test series against South Africa. The first Test match will be played in Centurion on December 26, and the second and final match will be played in Cape Town on January 3, 2024.
Middle-order batsman KL Rahul has filled the boots for India in the wicketkeeping department in the absence of Rishabh Pant. However, the Lucknow Super Giants skipper has kept wickets for his national side in 35 ODIs and 8 T20Is but Rahul is yet to keep wickets in the longest format of the game.
However, in the recently concluded three-match ODI ODI series, the Karnataka-born cricketer kept wickets for India in the first and third 50-over games. Rahul also became the second Indian captain after Virat Kohli to win a 50-over series after him.
Rahul Dravid “KL Rahul confident of keeping wickets in Test cricket”. [Star Sports] pic.twitter.com/emDFioAc6a
– Johannes. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 24, 2023
Speaking at a recent press conference ahead of the Boxing Day Test match on Tuesday, Rahul Dravid was confident about KL Rahul’s wicketkeeping skills in the longest format. “It is an exciting challenge because we have a number of goalkeepers to choose from. We have had discussions with KL Rahul and he is confident of keeping wickets in Tests. He did it in 50 overs, which is not easy because it takes a lot out of your body.
“He is prepared because he has done a lot of maintenance in the last six to seven months. This will be a new and exciting challenge for him.” said Dravid.
The right-handed batsman has taken a total of 48 catches and has five to his credit while playing as a wicketkeeper for India so far. Rahul will play a very crucial role in the Test line-up during the series, be it goalkeeping or batting. The batsman has amassed 2642 runs in 47 Test matches at an average of 33.44, along with seven centuries and thirteen half-centuries so far.
The last time India traveled to South Africa, they lost 2-1 in the last World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2021-2023.
India’s updated squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (Wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (Wk).