His Test match form might be a huge question mark but India should not think twice about playing KL Rahul alongside Rohit Sharma at the top in the T20I series against South Africa. India have Rahul, Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan in the same team for this series and it is very likely that one of Dhawan or Rahul will have to sit out the entire series.
At first glance, that could appear to be Rahul given how huge a success Rohit and Dhawan have been in the ODI format for India. But before India backs their incumbent opening pair, it would be wise to assess their T20 credentials rather than banking on their other format form.
Dhawan's T20I numbers aren't impressive enough to justify his inclusion ahead of Rahul in the shortest format of the game. In 53 T20Is, Dhawan has just nine scores of 50 or more and averages a questionable 27.28 while striking at a rate of 129.55.
On the other hand, Rahul has had a stupendous time in the shortest format of the game. In 28 T20Is, Rahul has made 899 runs at an average of 42.8 while striking at a rate of 148.1. He even has two centuries to his name in T20Is.
Now, one might put his average and strike rate down to a smaller sample size in comparison to Dhawan, who has nearly played twice the number of matches. But on checking their overall T20 records, the picture only gets clearer.
Dhawan averages 31.9 in the format spread across International cricket, Indian T20 league and other T20 competitions. His strike rate drops to 124.1 and scores a half-century every fifth innings on an average in T20s.
Meanwhile, Rahul has an average of 40.01 in a format where consistency is nearly unheard of. The aggressive Karnataka opener also strikes at a breathtaking rate of 138.33 and has three hundreds in the format aside from 24 half-centuries. He makes a 50-plus score roughly every fourth innings.
The key to having Rahul is two-fold. One, it allows Rohit Sharma to stick to his natural game and start slowly before building up momentum. In this case, Rahul gets off to a flier allowing his partner to settle in.
On the contrary, Dhawan is more in Rohit's mould, who consumes balls before attacking. Given how Rahul partnered exceptionally well with Chris Gayle - another batsman who like Rohit starts slow and then attacks - at Punjab in the last two Indian T20 League seasons, Rahul is the right partner to open alongside Rohit.
With the T20 World Cup closing in, India would only be served well by giving Rahul consistent chances at the top. As it is, picking players based on their ODI success in the shortest format is a formula that hasn't yielded much success. There's still time for India to make this change but a home series could well be the ideal opportunity to give Rahul security and place him at the top of the order.
Read: India announce Test squad for home series against South Africa
Featured image courtesy: AFP / Dibyangshu Sarkar
