Former Indian legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar reckons KL Rahul has loads of ability but he doesn’t believe in himself. Rahul has failed to deliver for the team in the first three matches of the ongoing T20 World Cup. The flamboyant batter was dismissed after scoring only four runs in the opening clash against the arch-rivals.
Subsequently, he was dismissed after scoring only nine runs against the Netherlands and then managed the same score against South Africa. Rahul has looked a bit tentative in his batting approach as he has failed to hit the top gear.
In fact, Rahul has performed consistently for the team in the bilateral series against Australia and South Africa but he has failed to find his A-game in the ongoing T20I showpiece.
Sunil Gavaskar believes Virat Kohli will help KL Rahul in getting back to form as the former has performed consistently in Adelaide.
“He’s (Kohli) the senior player, has bags of runs in every format, this has been his favourite ground, and he’ll be able to tell him what to do. I think he was trying to say that the ball outside off stump could cause trouble to anybody early in the innings when you are not certain about your off stump. You are not certain where the ball is gonna move. You tend to play at deliveries which you would otherwise leave and in this format, you can’t afford to leave deliveries. He’s got out a couple of times dragging the ball onto his stumps, at Perth, the extra bounce did him but he’s a class act, let’s not forget that,” Gavaskar said in India Today.
Gavaskar feels Rahul sometimes lacks confidence in his batting despite having all the ability in him. The right-hander sometimes goes on the defensive in the T20 format, which leads to his downfall but Gavaskar wants him to be aggressive from the get-go.
“Every time I see Rahul not scoring runs, I get the impression, he does not actually know the kind of ability he has. He doesn’t seem to believe in himself. He is a fabulous player and has loads of ability. He’s got to start saying ‘I’m gonna go and knock the stuffing out of the ball’. He’s got to have that kind of attitude. I want him to swagger. It will make a whole difference,” he added.
India will take on Bangladesh at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday.
