Former South African gun fast bowler Dale Steyn believes KL Rahul would have also scored a century if he batted at one drop in the second ODI against South Africa. Rahul has been in fine form as he scored a blistering knock of 66 runs off just 43 balls at Raipur on Wednesday while batting at number five.
Thus, the stand-in captain played a key role in helping India post a par score of 358 runs on the board but it was not enough in the end as the hosts suffered a four-wicket loss. Earlier, Rahul scored a fine knock of 60 runs off just 56 balls in the opening ODI at Ranchi.
Steyn said Rahul didn’t face enough deliveries, and if he had batted higher in the batting order, he would have gotten to the three-digit mark.
Steyn said on Star Sports, “He just knows how to do it. Again, if he batted 3 or if he opened the batting, I am pretty certain he would also go on to get the hundreds because of the lack of deliveries faced. But those positions are for other players, and he knows what his role is within this team. And both games so far, he has played fantastic innings.”
“A good, handy knock set by the skipper, KL, and he led his team well in the first one, managed to up the ante when he needed to. And again today, there was a period where he went semi-slow with Jadeja. South Africa bowled well in that little transitional period there, and the last over picked up the most expensive over of the innings.”
Rahul has consistently delivered while batting at number five in ODIs. Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Virat Kohli scored brilliant knocks of 105 and 102 runs respectively in the second game.
The third and final ODI between India and South Africa will be played at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, on Saturday.
