‘Gauti keen to give Rahul long rope’: Doeschate

Gautam Gambhir. Pic/AFP

India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said on Tuesday that while KL Rahul and Sarfaraz Khan are locked in a selection battle for the second Test v NZ here, head coach Gautam Gambhir is keen to give the former, a long rope.

"Yeah, there's no point in sugarcoating it, there's a fight for a spot," ten Doeschate told the media when asked if Rahul and Sarfaraz were battling for a place in the team.

Also Read: India's middle order conundrum: Sarfaraz Khan vs KL Rahul - who fits the bill?

"Sarfaraz [0 & 150] was obviously brilliant in the last Test. I went to KL [0 & 12] [and] said how many balls do you play at [and] miss at? He didn't play at [and] miss at one ball. That happens when you're not getting runs. There are no concerns about KL, he's batting nicely, he's in a good mental space. It's not like we're worried about his form. If you see the past three months since Gauti has been in here, he's keen to give him [Rahul] as much rope as we can. We have a lot of faith in him," added Ten Doeschate.

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