Highlights
- Rahul scored a century in the first test against South Africa
- For the last 3 years, Rahul has been performing well in all three formats.
- KL Rahul scored 123 runs in the first innings of the Centurion Test.
Opener KL Rahul played an important role behind Team India’s historic victory in the Centurion Test against South Africa, who played a brilliant century in the first innings. India scored 327 runs in the first innings on the basis of Rahul’s 123 runs.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar is very impressed with the innings of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal played in Centurion. Gavaskar says that both the openers showed at Centurion which ball to play and which to release, especially where the ball bounces more than home.
Gavaskar wrote in his column in the Times of India that the reason behind KL Rahul’s recent success is the ability to judge balls outside the off-stump. Veteran Gavaskar says the reason for Rahul’s failure in the initial days was the ball going outside the off-stump. At that time he used to struggle for runs.
From the England tour, Rahul worked on his shot selection. Since then, runs started coming out of his bat again. Today he looks like Murali Vijay who was one of the openers to leave the balls outside the off-stump.
Especially at the beginning of a Test match, the fewer balls a batsman plays, the more chances he has of making big scores. During this he can see how the pitch is and what he is doing. How is the ball moving and bouncing? After that he can play his shot well.
Legendary Gavaskar wrote that you need to be patient at the beginning of a Test match. Then you can score. By making a century partnership in the opening, the Indian team can put South Africa under pressure. Team India had a lead of 130 runs in the first innings of the Centurion Test. India won the Test by 113 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
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