Rahul, currently leading the race for IPL 2020 Orange Cap, wasn’t a part of the Test squad that toured New Zealand earlier this year. His last Test came against West Indies on team India’s tour to the Caribbean in 2019, where he played both the Tests as an opener but wasn’t able to make a significant impact, managing a high score of 44 in four innings.

India's squads for the Australia tour, announced bang in the middle of an IPL game, threw open several points of discussion.@Aadya_Wisden takes stock of the situation.https://t.co/THvzJoLub1

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) October 27, 2020

Rahul was entrusted with the opening role on India’s last tour to Australia as well but in five innings, he returned scores of 2, 44, 2, 0 and 9 respectively. But despite such sub-par returns on previous tours, he has been included in the Test squad to travel Down Under later this year as one of the four opening options alongside Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal.

And Manjrekar thinks that BCCI might be setting a “bad precedent” by selecting Rahul in the Test squad on the back of IPL performances.

You set a bad precedent when you recall a player for Tests on IPL performance. Especially if the player has been an abject failure in his last few Tests. Whether that player succeeds or fails is irrelevant, such selections massively demotivate Ranji players. #INDvsAUS

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) October 27, 2020

After it was pointed out that Rahul is possibly playing the best cricket of his life so far, even though in limited-overs, Manjrekar replied by highlighting the Kings XI Punjab captain’s returns in his last five Test series.

KL Rahul in his last 5 Test series
– v SA – Avg 7.1
– v Eng – Avg 29
– v WI at home – Avg 18
– v Aus – Avg 10.7
– v WI – Avg 25.4
I say very lucky to get a recall based on IPL & white ball performance. But now let’s just hope he makes the most of this chance. Good luck to him! https://t.co/YBVbeut5jH

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) October 27, 2020

Meanwhile, Rahul has been named the vice-captain of the ODI and T20I sides in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury.