Isolate his IPL performances and look at the consistency of this fellow. You will find he is in the team on basis of his reputation. I am at pains to identify what his role actually is. Cause if KLR is your designated opener, then the selectors shouldn't be picking any more openers.
If KLR fits into the middle order, let someone like Iyer/Gill open with Sharma.
If KLR is your designated keeper- wtf are Kishan and Pant doing in the team?
To me, it seems as though KLR needs to be in the team at any cost. Truth be told, he isn't that reliable a player. Appointing him as deputy to Rohit is perhaps the worst decision BCCI may ever have taken.
These are the numbers of KLR in T20Is in pre-Covid times
| Mat | Inns | Runs | Avg | SR | 50s | 100s | H/S |
| 42 | 38 | 1461 | 45.65 | 146.10 | 11 | 2 | 110* |
Between Dec 2019 & Jan 2020, KLR scored 5 consecutive scores in excess of 45. He also scored back to back half centuries in Auckland in 2020 followed by a 39 at Wellington and 45 at Bay Oval.
In the New Zealand series in 2020, KLR scored 224 runs @56 striking at 144.52.
After that he was for no reason moved down the order in ODIs along with his Captain expressing his views of trying him in the middle order in T20Is. To be precise, he was made feel insecure regarding his spot.
This was followed by Covid-19, lockdowns, bio-bubbles, bio-bubble breaches, etc etc. These situations can affect any individual to a severe extent, forget about being a sports player.
His IPL performance just give a hint of the player he has been, infact he has looked better playing for India. I don't know what reputation you are talking about. He is in the team solely on merit of his performance.
Players tend to have lean patches, and the current situation in the world could make things even more difficult. In my view, he should be backed to play as an opener for India.
