India was defeated by Australia in the first ODI at Perth on October 19, which was a rain-affected match with a severe batting collapse under the captaincy of Shubman Gill, overshadowing the game. The defeat has raised fears regarding the team’s performance in the rest of the ODIs in the series.

Kris Srikkanth, a former cricketer and ex-BCCI chief selector, did not hold back in his criticism of the team management and captain Shubman Gill for putting KL Rahul low in the batting order, lower than Axar. Patel. Rahul was sent in at number six, after Shreyas Iyer was out in the 14th over, a decision that Srikanth termed “absurd.”

Kris Srikanth slams batting collapse and management decisions

“I told before only that KL Rahul should play ahead of Shreyas Iyer. It was an absurd decision by the team and management. You are leaving him and looking somewhere else. If he scores, he scores a lot. Axar Patel going higher than KL is absolute rubbish,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel. He added that if he were captain, he would have promoted KL Rahul to number four to maximize his impact with the bat.

Srikkanth also criticized India’s overall batting collapse, which cost the team valuable runs and ultimately the match. He questioned the decision to promote Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was intended as a big hitter, at an inappropriate stage in the innings. “By any chance had they gone up to 160 and not lost more wickets, the DLS score would have been higher and things could have favored India. Another mistake was not sending Nitish after KL and Axar got out. You took him as a big hitter and then put him in the wrong position,” Srikanth explained.

With the second ODI on October 23 in Adelaide, India will look to bounce back. Adjustments to the batting order, including giving KL Rahul a higher spot, may finally be on the cards to salvage pride in the series.