Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer is of the opinion that KL Rahul will have a place in India’s T20 World Cup squad, if the LSG skipper can put his all in for the franchise in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League.
“If the team does well, everyone gets rewarded. If KL can captain LSG to IPL title, that means he would have captained well, batted well and kept wickets well,” Langer explained in a media interaction on Wednesday.
Rahul, who was part of India’s 2022 T20 World Cup squad, hasn’t played a game for India in the shortest format since. The 31-year-old is making a comeback from an injury he picked in the first Test against England back in January – ripping apart the tendon from quadriceps.
“He has followed all the ‘Return To Play’ protocols and he has been hitting a lot of balls,” Langer updated of Rahul’s progress ahead of the upcoming season.
The former Australia head coach, also spoke highly of Indian leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who’s been a regular feature of the T20 side and is among the contenders for the World Cup squad.
“He (Bishnoi) is an outstanding bowler. I love his energy,” Langer said. “The message for players, like KL or Bishi (Bishnoi) will be that more they concentrate on playing well for LSG, their chances (of WT20 call-up) will increase.”
Langer joined the Lucknow franchise ahead of IPL 2024, taking over the role from Andy Flower, who had been at the helm in the franchise’s first two seasons in the league – 2022 and 2023 alongside Gautam Gambhir as the team mentor.
It will be a first coaching gig for Langer since his time as the Australian men’s team head coach came to an end following reports of discontent with the first-team players. “I have been sleeping well for the past two years after I left coaching Australia. Now I will have sleepless nights in fitting so much talent in just 11 slots.”
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