Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin launched a scathing attack on senior batter KL Rahul following his string of low scores across formats.

Mohammad Azharuddin's comments came after KL Rahul suffered another failure on the pitch, getting out for just 39 in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Guwahati.

“I think consistency is the problem in KL Rahul's case. But I think there are coaches who should rectify his flaws. In my opinion, he is a good player but consistency is missing in his game,” Mohammad Azharuddin said in a conversation with a media outlet.

“I think Rahul is getting out in a lot of manners. Primarily, it is not the good balls that are getting him out. It is poor shot selection first up that is causing problems,” he added.

Before Mohammad Azharuddin, both Team India admirers and former cricketers slammed the think tank for persisting with KL Rahul despite his mediocre record since his return to action from injury last year.

“Think fair would have been to give chance to a man who scored a double hundred in India's last ODI, and in a series where India lost two games and the series. Have all the time in the world for Gill, but no way you drop a player for scoring a double ton. And if one is convinced to play Gill, then can have him bat at 3 and let Ishan keep wickets instead of KL Rahul,” Venkatesh Prasad tweeted.

“There is a reason we have underperformed in Limited overs cricket. Constant chopping changing and a guy who does brilliantly and is an X factor is dropped and mediocrity retained.”

“In Eng, Pant scored a hundred in the final ODI and helped India win the series. However, based on T20 form was dropped from ODI team. KL Rahul on the other hand barring a couple of innings has failed consistently but retains his place. Performance is not the foremost parameter. Sad,” Venkatesh Prasad added.

Before the start of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, two-time World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir and veteran India batter Dinesh Karthik had spoken about KL Rahul's challenges in ODIs and Test cricket.

They also warned him that the time was running out for him and that he would have to score loads of runs if he wanted to save his career.

“You can only control what you can control. You can't control selectors, you can't control what's going to happen in the next series. You got three ODIs against Sri Lanka. If you play that, just be in the present. That's all you can control. The moment you start to think about uncontrollable things, you're putting undue pressure on yourself,” Gautam Gambhir told Sports.

“If you don't perform, someone else will take your position. That's not only with Sanju or KL, it's with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as well. If they don't perform, you will start questioning about their positions too. That's what international cricket is about. No one is indispensable. So you got three ODIs, you bat in the middle-order, try and get those runs, because ultimately it's the performance that keeps you in the side. Not the name, not your talent,” Gautam Gambhir explained.

“Let's look at the recent past. Before these two Bangladesh Tests, three against South Africa, four against England that he played. In those 7 Tests, he's got two centuries and two fifties and those are in away conditions. These are tough conditions to play in, so as a support staff of the Indian team, when you look at him, you know he's got the skill. He's not going through the best of times at this point, and you got to back him,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.

“Look, I think we have to understand mindsets of batters. Right now, there's a lot happening in his mind. He's the captain, he hasn't got the volume of runs he wants. He is under pressure, he is tentative when he starts to bat. This happens to a lot of batters, literally every batter who plays for the country. You go through spell where you find the runs hard to come by,” Dinesh Karthik added.

“It could be the new ball, you feel the conditions are made for batting, sometimes you don't get to runs and everyday the mind keeps throwing doubts at you and it gets bigger and bigger. In his case, he's tentative, he's not very committed to the front foot. He's hanging back, hoping that the ball would turn and he could play the ball. But at times, he is trying to make an effort to play. It's not a technical error, there's a lot happening for KL Rahul at the moment,” the seasoned India batter concluded.