Former Indian batsman Mohammad Kaif has showered rich praise on KL Rahul after his “perfect” knock in the first T20I against Australia, saying the Karnataka batsman reminds him of one of India’s greatest batsmen of all time Rahul Dravid.
The right-hander hasn’t had such a good outing in the recent ODI series but was quick to return to his usual form in the T20Is, scoring 51 off 40 balls to help India put up a defendable total of 161 in the first T20I of the three-match T20I series against Australia on Friday (December 4) in Canberra.
Kaif was impressed with the way Rahul batted throughout his knock despite not getting the strike very often, showing great maturity to stay as long as he can and anchor the innings when Team India was losing wickets. He also called Rahul a team-player who is ready to lay down his life for the team.
Kaif said on the post-match show on Sony Sports Network: “KL Rahul reminds me of Rahul Dravid. KL Rahul is ready to do anything, it shows that he is a team-player. If you play me at No.5, then I will do that role for the team. I will keep if you ask me to do that.”
He further added, “Here you want me to open, I will do that as well. As a captain or team management, you are on the lookout for players like KL Rahul who is ready to lay down his life for the team. There are very few players who come like him. He played fast at the start but had to slow down when the wickets were falling. And he did not get the strike as well. Then once you get the strike, you are confused if you should play the big shot or take singles because you are losing out on overs.”
Praising Rahul’s Friday’ innings, Kaif noted: “I feel it was a perfect innings. He started very well and later we do expect that he scores 80-90 runs but he got out. But overall, it was a very good innings because a batsman wants to bat based on the situation. And it is not that he cannot play the big shots.”
He signed off by saying, “Whenever he wants, he can play the big shots and can also score 20 runs in an over, but he did not change the gear intentionally because he felt that the wickets were falling and he wanted to play till the end.”
