ICC World Cup 2019 | “It is a tough ask but he has the skill to do it” - Mike Hesson on KL Rahul batting at No.4
Mike Hesson has stated that it is tough to ask any opener to move down the order, but backed KL Rahul to succeed for India at the No.4 position. However, the Kings XI Punjab has added that people need to be patient with Rahul and give him some time to find his mojo back during the World Cup.
After years of planning and experimentation, it has finally come down to KL Rahul batting at the No.4 position for India. It was a strange decision considering Rahul failing in his pursuit of making the position his own and had shown a little sign of adjusting himself at any position other than the opening slot. However, his confident century against Bangladesh in the warm-up games seemed to have done the trick, but Hesson believes it will be tricky for him.
“He was in a good space when he arrived with us (Kings XI). It was a tough start for him but he got into his groove once he found his rhythm in a couple of weeks. He’s a very, very fine player, it was a question of finding his rhythm which probably took a week or so,” Kings XI Punjab coach Mike Hesson told CricketNext about Rahul.
“Look it’s a very big change, it’s a tough ask for anyone who has batted at the top of the order. A lot of international players have done it the other way around — middle-order player has moved to the top in white-ball cricket with a lot of success. Going the other way, very few players have been successful at it. Tom Latham springs to mind. KL is the one who can do it by starting well against both spin and pace. It is a tough ask but he has the skill to do it,” former New Zealand head coach Hesson felt.
One of the most factors where the middle-order had not contributed to the run was the strike rotation. Sure enough, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav have mastered that art, but going with a 100 strike rate and putting the opposition to the task is yet to be seen in the last year. Can Rahul do that job for India? Mike Hesson certainly thinks so.
“When you bat the top, you can get your innings underway with boundaries. There can be a number of dot balls in between but you can make up for that. KL has the ability to manoeuvre the ball, if he can add that pace between the wickets and ability to hit gaps for twos — aim being to minimize dots and score off every ball, then he’ll be really successful,” Hesson said.
“He’s making a transition to changing his role and he’s going to get out sometime. It’s not going to look good majority of the time. If you concentrate on just the dismissal you are going to have a pretty horrible career just thinking about that. He needs a little bit of time and patience to own that role. If all the focus is on his dismissals, he is never going to be consistent,” the 44-year-old said.
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