KL Rahul To Replace Rohit Sharma For Perth Test? Report Reveals 'India A' Experiment

KL Rahul has been added to the India A squad for the second game against Australia A, keeping in mind a potential tactical consideration for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Seasoned batter K.L. Rahul and wicket-keeper Dhruv Jurel have been added to the India A squad for the second four-day game against Australia A, starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday. IANS had reported on Monday that Rahul and Jurel would link up with the India A team after leaving for Melbourne following the third Test against New Zealand, which the Rohit Sharma-led side lost by 25 runs to suffer a historic 3-0 defeat.

Sources had also said that the decision to send Rahul and Jurel to play for India A team was made with an eye to give the duo some game time ahead of the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, starting in Perth on November 22. It is also believed that Rahul might open alongside Abhimanyu Easwaran, as the Indian team would be keen to see who would be the best person to partner Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Perth Test.

The vacancy at the top comes especially after captain Rohit Sharma said at the end of the Mumbai Test that he could be unavailable for the series opener at Perth due to personal reasons.

While Easwaran has slammed 27 centuries in 100 first-class matches, with an average of 49.40, Rahul has recently batted mainly in the middle-order but comes in with the fact that he's scored Test centuries in England, South Africa, and Australia, the country where he made his Test debut in 2014.

Rahul played three Tests in the Indian home season, with his last game coming via the hosts' series opener against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. After making scores of 0 and 12 in that game, where India lost by eight wickets, he didn't feature in the remainder of the series.