Rohan Gavaskar, a former cricketer for India, predicts that if opener KL Rahul continues to bat in the same manner as he did against Hong Kong, the opening combination in the Asia Cup may alter.
At the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday, India defeated Hong Kong by a score of 40 runs, and Rahul was a far cry from his usual fluent self. Rahul laboriously needed 39 balls to score 36 runs, including 16 dot balls, on a slow pitch against slower-moving Hong Kong bowlers. Rahul only hit two sixes during this time. Rahul was hit by Naseem Shah’s first-ball duck in the match against Pakistan on Sunday.
“Look, I believe he is recovering from a protracted injury layoff. He didn’t travel because of Covid-19, so he didn’t have many possibilities in the West Indies. And if you focus solely on Wednesday’s (yesterday) innings, you might conclude that 36 of the 39 pitches Hong Kong received were slow.”
“However, I believe that in this situation the team management would have informed him that he had a slight advantage over Hong Kong and that, 99% of the time, he would have won. This was therefore a bit of a free hit, telling K.L to take his time out there, get ready, and have a feel for being in the middle before we see how it goes “Gavaskar remarked.
