KL Rahul has probably been the most impressive Indian batter for the past couple of years. Even in this season’s Indian T20 League, he was the 2nd highest run-getter with 616 runs to his name. Not only that but he also led his team to the eliminator match in the Indian T20 League.
His consistency and leadership skills have been awarded with a captaincy role for the Indian National team against South Africa.
Some, however, have also criticized the Mangalore-born batter for his slow start to innings. While defending Rahul against these critics, the former Indian pacer RP Singh took a slight dig at Manish Pandey. Singh praised Rahul’s ability to pace his batting innings. He believes that the Indian opener bats slow at the start but accelerates very well towards the end, meaning his overall scoring rate is still very fast.
“KL Rahul is technically very sound. He has game-awareness as he picks the bowlers against whom he can take chances on a given day. If he gets out for a run-a-ball 25, we’d say that he played like Manish Pandey does. But he ticks all the boxes because he protects his wicket and knows when to accelerate,” RP Singh answered when asked for a quote on Rahul’s slow start.
Former India and Bangalore wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel was also in high praise of the Lucknow captain and has lauded his ability to read games well. “KL Rahul is the only player who can score a century in 20 overs despite starting slowly. If you are able to score 100 runs off 60 balls, it means that you’ve read the game well and know how to pace your innings,” said the Ahmedabad-born southpaw.
KL Rahul and co. start their international cricket schedule with a five-match T20 series against South Africa at home from June 9th.
