Former batter of Team India Sanjay Manjrekar has heaped praise on wicket-keeping batter KL Rahul, saying he batted with tremendous discipline.
Former batter of Indian cricket team Sanjay Manjrekar has heaped praise on wicket-keeping batter KL Rahul, saying he batted with tremendous discipline. Rahul scored a gritty half-century as India ended Day 1 at 208 for 8 against South Africa at the SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium in Centurion.
Rahul was the only Indian batter to score a half-century in the first inning, as he played a chance-less knock on a tricky surface on Boxing Day. Rahul scored 70 runs off 105 balls, hitting 10 boundaries and two sixes in Centurion.
Speaking after the bad light stopped play on Day 1, Manjrekar said Rahul has always had the ability and talent and showed how clear his mind is.
Manjrekar said, “When you look at that, you know, you can see how clear his mind is. The balls that were slightly outside were left alone; the balls that were close to the bat were defended; anything that had a bit of room on it was punished. So he is in that state of mind. I keep talking about his state of mind because the ability of the talent has always been there.”
He went on to say that Rahul showed tremendous discipline, insisting that India had enough runs to even take the lead. This was Rahul’s 14th half-century in Test cricket.
Manjrekar added, “The only issue he had were his own batting demons, which used to come to the fore when he used to open in Test matches. Down the line, something else took control of his mind. And that is just tremendous discipline on such fine margins. I think India have got enough runs on the board to even take the lead, considering the quality of Indian bowling and the quality of South African batting.”
