Former India's head coach Ravi Shastri reckons that fielding KL Rahul into the starting XI for the Asia Cup 2023 tournament won't be a good move. KL Rahul was last seen playing in the sixteenth edition of the Indian Premier League before he met with a thigh injury, which forced him to get ruled out of the tournament. 

KL RahulThe Bengaluru-born travelled to London to undergo surgery and was undergoing rehabilitation. The cricketer who has shown great signs of recovery hit the National Cricket Academy to undergo training and fitness drills. Pictures and video clips of KL Rahul hitting the gym went viral on the internet. 

According to Ravi Shastri, given then, KL Rahul hasn't played any form of cricket ever since undergoing the thigh injury, expecting him to come and make a telling impact in the Asia Cup 2023 would be asking a little too much. In case KL Rahul gets into the playing XI and doesn't play well, it would surely hamper his confidence levels.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Ravi Shastri clearly explained that it is not right for KL Rahul to straightaway get into the playing XI since he hasn't played the game for quite some time.

"See when you're talking of a player (KL Rahul) who's not played and is recovering from injury. To think of him in the XI of the Asia Cup, you're asking a little too much of the player himself. And then you're talking about keeping. When a guy comes from an injury, the range of movement and things of that sort, so that's a no-no."

KL Rahul has been statistically pretty decent when it comes to One-Day Internationals. The right-handed batsman scored 1986 runs at an average of 45.1 including five centuries and 13 fifties. He registered his personal best score of 112.