KL Rahul recently led India to a bilateral ODI series win in South Africa.
Former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator, Irfan Pathan, heaped praise on KL Rahul after he guided Team India to a historic ODI series win in South Africa on December 21.
Rahul led the young troop in the recent three-match ODI series in South Africa and managed to win the first and third ODIs to clinch the bilateral series by a 2-1 margin. With this win, Rahul became the only second Indian captain after Virat Kohli to win the ODI series in South Africa.
This was only the second time in 21 years that India won a bilateral ODI series in South Africa. Notably, Team India, under Kohli’s captaincy, created history by defeating South Africa 5-1 in the six-match series in 2018.
However, Rahul won the historic series with an inexperienced team, and that’s something that impressed former all-rounder Irfan Pathan.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Irfan wrote: “And what a year KL Rahul is having, nearly an average of 70 with bat in hand. As only the 2nd Indian captain to win a series on the South African soil.”
Apart from this, Rahul has achieved another feat, as he joined the legendary MS Dhoni in an elite list. Rahul became only the second Indian wicketkeeper-batter to score 1,000 runs in ODI cricket in a calendar year.
The right-handed batter scored 21 runs in the third ODI against South Africa in Paarl to achieve this milestone. Rahul has scored 1,060 runs in 27 ODI matches this year at an average of 66.25 and a strike rate of 87.74. Dhoni was the first Indian to achieve this feat, 16 years ago.