Legendary Pakistani pacer Wasim Akram has lauded KL Rahul’s innings against the Netherlands in the final league stage match of the ICC World Cup 2023. India finished the league stage with 9 wins out of 9 games, as they routed the Dutch by 160 runs in Bengaluru on November 12.
India had batted first and Shubman Gill (51), Rohit Sharma (61) and Virat Kohli (51) laid a solid foundation on which Shreyas Iyer (128*) and KL Rahul (102) added 208 runs for the 4th wicket. India posted a mammoth 410/4 in 50 overs.
In response, the Netherlands could only manage 250 runs and lost by 160 runs.
While reviewing the match, former Pakistani cricketers Wasim Akram, Shoaib Malik, and Misbah-Ul-Haq lavished rich praise on KL Rahul. Akram said it is easier to bowl against Glenn Maxwell than KL Rahul.
“Against Maxwell, as a bowler, you know that you will get a chance but with Rahul, it is not the case. He is a proper technical batter. He has opened in Test cricket, ODIs and T20Is. Now he has been given a different role and he is excelling in it,” said Akram on A Sports channel.
Shoaib Malik said that KL Rahul is the best No. 5 batter in the World Cup and explained why India kept him at No. 5, despite there were talks about him batting at No 4.
“The best at No 5 in the world cricket. Klassen (Heinrich) needs a base to get going. But if you compare, India has got the best batter at 5, who can play in any sort of situation. This is why KL bats at 5. If India loses two or three wickets early, he is someone, who can play according to the situation.
He can finish the match, can improvise, can play with a good strike rate, and we have seen it today. He is good against spinners as well as the Pacers. He picks the gaps and plays the field. Against Australia, we have seen, he was the one who finished the match,” said Malik.
Misbah Ul Haq lauded KL Rahul’s ability to play the field makes him the most difficult batter to bowl at.
“He hits a yorker over point. It is very difficult to bowl against such a batsman. Wherever the fielder is up, he plays the shot in that direction. It is incredibly difficult to bowl against KL Rahul,” said Misbah.
Here is the video:
