KL Rahul had a good outing in the recently concluded Test series against South Africa with a hard-fought century in Centurion but the wicket-keeper batter was not included for the T20I series against Afghanistan starting Thursday. With the T20 World Cup 2024 just round the corner, Jitesh Sharma and Sanju Samson were given a chance to show their mettle on the international stage. In a video doing the rounds on social media, Rahul was seen coming out of a restaurant when he was mobbed by some of his fans. Two of the fans tried to touch his feet but Rahul stopped them and took pictures with them instead.

Earlier, former Indian opener Aakash Chopra raised concerns over middle-order batter KL Rahul’s omission from the squad against Afghanistan, especially when he and skipper Rohit Sharma both put up disappointing numbers during ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

Rohit Sharma and batter Virat Kohli returned to India’s T20I squad against Afghanistan as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday revealed a 16-player roster for a three-match T20I series.

A fan touches KL Rahul’s feet. pic.twitter.com/VWaY1Y5E3p

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 10, 2024

The senior duo made a comeback to India’s T20I setup for the first time since the end of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, in what is a major development for the side ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024.

But KL Rahul remained absent from the side.

To this, Chopra questioned on his Youtube Channel that what wrong KL had done, especially after having a good ICC Cricket World Cup last year with the bat. He also pointed out that Rohit failed to do well in T20 WC 2022 and did well in the 50-over tournament next year to earn his way back in the team.

“When you want to go back to your seniors, what is Rahul’s mistake? If you are making the team based on the last T20 World Cup performance, both Rohit and Rahul did not do well. Both are in the same boat,” said Aakash on his channel.

“After that, both have done well, if we see the last World Cup, the ODI one. Then both names should have been there. Rahul even keeps and bats down the order now. So you could have played him there as well. However, Rahul is not there but Rohit is. Virat Kohli is there. You were not looking to keep him for the last one year,” he added.

(With ANI inputs)