Despite their impressive start to the T20 World Cup 2022, Team have had some major concerns and the loss to South Africa has added to their problems.
The biggest issue for the team is opening batter KL Rahul's poor run with the bat. The right-hander has registered scores of 4, 9, and 9 in India’s three matches against Pakistan, Netherlands, and South Africa respectively.
Ahead of India’s next clash against Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday (November 2), batting legend Sunil Gavaskar weighed in on Rahul’s rough patch, saying there’s no technical issue with his batting and instead the problem lies with his mindset.
“Every time I see Rahul not scoring runs, I get the impression, he does not actually know the kind of ability he has. He doesn’t seem to believe in himself. He is a fabulous player and has loads of ability. He’s got to start saying ‘I’m gonna go and knock the stuffing out of the ball’. He’s got to have that kind of attitude. It will make the whole difference,” Gavaskar told India Today.
On the eve of the Bangladesh game, senior batter Virat Kohli was spotted having a long chat with KL Rahul. While he was batting at the indoor nets of the Adelaide Oval, Kohli came into the middle and shared his inputs with the opener.
Commenting on Kohli’s chat with Rahul, Gavaskar said: “He’s (Kohli) the senior player, has bags of runs in every format, this has been his favourite ground, and he’ll be able to tell him what to do. I think he was trying to say that the ball outside off stump could cause trouble to anybody early in the innings when you are not certain about your off stump. You are not certain where the ball is gonna move. You tend to play at deliveries which you would otherwise leave and in this format, you can’t afford to leave deliveries. He’s got out a couple of times dragging the ball onto his stumps, at Perth, the extra bounce did him but he’s a class act, let’s not forget that.”
Meanwhile, India head coach Rahul Dravid has backed KL Rahul to come good in the upcoming games.
“I am hoping it all clicks together in the next three or four games. We know his (Rahul) quality, we know his ability, he is suited for these conditions, these pitches,” Dravid in a press conference on Tuesday.
