Batting great Sunil Gavaskar pointed out the difference in the body language between Virat Kohli and KL Rahul during their respective lean patches with the bat. Rahul displayed his class and scored a gritty 75-run* knock off 91 balls to help India register a 5-wicket victory in the first ODI. Before the series opener, Rahul was under pressure after getting dropped from the XI of the last two Tests against Australia. He also lost his ODI vice-captaincy to Hardik Pandya recently.
Rahul took over the charge in the first ODI when things were not working well for India as they were 39/4 at one stage and he shared crucial partnerships with Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja to take hosts over the line.
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Gavaskar talked about the lean patches of Kohli and Rahul and suggested that the former looked confident on the field despite not scoring much but that was not the same case with the latter.
“We said earlier as well that he has the technique and temperament, but sometimes you need luck as well,” he said.
“Just like Virat Kohli, he was getting out to his first mistake, but his body language didn’t use to be like Virat Kohli’s,” he explained.
However, Gavaskar was impressed with Rahul’s outing in the first ODI against Australia and said he repaid the trust of team management.
“Virat Kohli used to get out, but his body language was still different. He was confident. You could not have said the same thing about Rahul. But the way he batted today, he repaid the team management for the faith shown in him. He stayed till the end; it was not that he could do anything as he had scored a fifty,” he added.
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Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar also hailed Rahul for his gritty knock and said India have a big advantage of having him batting at number 5 in ODIs.
“Whoever bats at multiple positions, it becomes a strong point for them. He has been exposed to different-different situations. I feel it was a huge advantage that India had a player at No. 5 who could play well down the order and against the new ball. If you have a top-order collapse, which has happened in a few important games, you have a player who can see off the new ball and then can score runs all around the park. There is no area where he cannot play a shot. He has presented a solid case for himself,” Bangar said.
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