Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar reckons KL Rahul’s instinct is equal to legendary MS Dhoni. Rahul has been keeping with aplomb in the recent past and he will also take gloves in the opening Test match against South Africa in the Centurion Test.

Rahul was also spot-on with his DRS calls in the ODI World Cup. Furthermore, he led India to a 2-1 series win against South Africa in a three-match ODI series. Manjrekar said Rahul looks comfortable in a leadership role as he is cool as a cucumber. Rahul has scored 2642 runs in 47 Test matches at an average of 33.44 and he will look to better his numbers.

“These days, when you see KL Rahul on the ground, he looks very relaxed and in a good mind space. He captained as expected. He looks comfortable in the leadership role. He has led a lot in the IPL, in a Test match in South Africa and in one-day matches as well. You can expect KL Rahul not to make any big mistake. He is an expert in DRS. His instinct is equal to that of MS Dhoni,” said Manjrekar on ESPN Cricinfo.

Manjrekar said the credit for India’s success should go to the players as they are coming up with consistent performances and are delivering the goods for the team in all conditions.

“It seems like Indian cricket is running on autopilot mode. Suryakumar Yadav won as captain recently, KL Rahul now. Rohit Sharma has also won a lot of games for India. A lot of credit for the success must go to the players. Captaincy is good, but not game-changing. It’s the players who are doing really well,” Manjrekar added.

Meanwhile, India has never won a Test series in South Africa and has managed only four Test wins in 23 matches.

INDIA’S SQUAD FOR TEST SERIES

Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (WK), Abhimanyu Easwaran.