“What did you do wrong to bat at No. 3?” – Lyon questions Rohit Sharma’s tactic to demote KL Rahul

Even the opposition is baffled as to why KL Rahul didn’t open with the India cricket team trailing by 474 runs in the Boxing Day Test. After Travis Head, Rahul was easily the best batter of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but to accommodate himself up the top, captain Rohit Sharma decided to demote Rahul to number three.

Rohit Sharma’s puzzling KL Rahul demotion

The decision was criticised, not just because Rahul was in the form of his life and looked at ease against the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Pat Cummins, but also because Shubman Gill was dropped. Having already taken a massive advantage in the penultimate game of the series, Australia was chuffed to their bits to see Rohit Sharma instead of Rahul.

By the end of the 2nd over, Team India were already one wicket down as Rohit registered another low score (3). So basically, Rahul came out to open. As soon as he walked in, Nathan Lyon decided to have a poke at the batter. The off-spinner asked him, “What did you do wrong to bat one down at No. 3?”

Cummins keeps KL Rahul at bay

The demotion, however, didn’t seem to faze Rahul. He continued batting the way he had throughout the series. Leaving balls outside off and going for his strokes when the ball lands in his arc. Rahul played a couple of beautiful drives and looked set to hit his third half-century of the series, but Cummins had other ideas. He bowled an absolute corker of a ball on the last ball before Tea to send Rahul packing and left team India 51/2, still trailing by 423 runs.

KL Rahul in BGT 2024-25

Innings	Runs	Average	Balls Faced	100s	50s	Highest Score
7	259	43.16	512	0	2	84