SA vs IND: Rahul Dravid Confident About KL Rahul’s Wicketkeeping Duties In South Africa Test Series

New Delhi: Indian cricket team Head coach Rahul Dravid has expressed his thoughts that he is looking forward to seeing KL Rahul keep wickets for the team ahead of the two-match-test series against South Africa.  The first test match is going to be played at Centurion on December 26, and the second and final will be played in Cape Town on January 3, 2024.

Middle-order batter KL Rahul has filled the shoes for India in the wicket-keeping department in the absence of Rishabh Pant. However, the Lucknow Super Giants skipper has kept wickets for his national side in 35 ODIs and 8 T20Is, but Rahul is yet to keep the wickets in the longest format of the game.

However, in the recently concluded ODI three-match ODI series, the Karnataka-born cricketer kept wickets for India in the first and third 50-over games. Rahul also became the second Indian captain after Virat Kohli to win a 50-over format series after him.

Rahul Dravid “KL Rahul is confident to keep wickets in Test cricket”. [Star Sports] pic.twitter.com/emDFioAc6a

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 24, 2023

In a recent press conference ahead of the Boxing Day test match on Tuesday, Rahul Dravid was confident about KL Rahul’s wicketkeeping skills in the longest format. “It’s an exciting challenge as we have a couple of keepers to choose from. We have had conversations with KL Rahul, and he is confident of keeping wickets In Tests. He has done it in 50 overs which isn’t easy as it takes a lot out of your body.

“He’s prepared, as in the last six to seven months, he has done a lot of keeping. This will be a new and exciting challenge for him.” Dravid said.

The right-handed batter has overall taken 48 catches and has five stumping to his name while playing for India as a wicketkeeper till now. Rahul will play a very crucial role in the test lineup during the series, whether it’s keeping or batting. The batter has smashed 2642 runs in 47 test games at an average of 33.44, along with seven centuries and 13 half-centuries till now.

The last time India travelled to South Africa they fell to a 2-1 series defeat during the last World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2021-2023.

India’s updated squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (Wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (Wk).