KL Rahul's poor form becomes political; Shashi Tharoor questions Sanju Samson's omission

From fans to ex-cricketers, to journalists and now politicians as well, KL Rahul's poor form has attracted the ire of everyone but the chief selectors, who continue to select him in the Indian team. In the most recent debate on KL Rahul's mediocre form, political journalist Shekhar Gupta voiced his opinion on the continued bias and lack of merit with which players are chosen to represent the country.

"Indian cricket became the tops in the world when it became a clinical, unemotional and unbiased meritocracy. This must’ve changed if KL Rahul can keep his place, averaging just about 25 in 49 Test innings at the top order since 2017. While Gill waits. Merit, anybody?" Shehkar Tweeted.

The tweet garnered further attention from Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is an avid cricket fan. Tharoor, who is known to be a vocal supporter of Sanju Samson threw further light on the topic that has constantly trended in chat rooms since the Delhi Test. The leader from Kerala questioned the treatment of Sanju Samson, who was omitted from the ODI squad for the series against Australia.

"And what about @IamSanjuSamson? Averaging 76 in ODIs and yet again omitted from the ODI squad against Australia. It’s all very well to give non-performers a long rope, but surely not at the expense of talented performers?", Tharoor commented.

While Rahul has maintained his place in India's Test team, he appears to have lost his post as the vice-captain of the team.

Rahul, who scored 17 off 41 balls in the 1st innings of the 2nd Test and a single digit score in the second innings was not named as India's vice-captain for the 3rd and 4th Test matches against Australia.

Rahul was Rohit's deputy when India announced its star-studded squad for the first two games of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. While announcing the squad for the remaining two matches on Sunday, a vice-captain has not been appointed by the selection committee.