ENG vs IND | KL Rahul showed a lot of application and class, asserts Zaheer KhanÂ
Rahul made 84 against England in the first innings
|Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan has lauded India's opening batsman KL Rahul for his brilliant batting in the Test series opener against England and reckoned he exhibited a lot of application with the bat. He also added Rahul would be pleased with the fact that he's being compared to Rahul Dravid.
KL Rahul, who might not have even started the series against England if not for the late injury to Mayank Agarwal, made the opportunity count in an emphatic style. The white-ball regular made 84 off 214, and put up a batting clinic, showing ample patience, discipline and resilience against the testing off-stump line to propel India to 278 in their response to England's 183.Â
There was a lot of debate when Rahul was included in India's Test squad for the Australia series last year, having not played a lot of red-ball cricket, post his axing from the Test side. It was followed by a long wait as he had to warm the bench in as many as nine Tests before he finally got a chance to play for India in the longer version of the game.
Former Indian pacer Zaheer Khan was left impressed with Rahul's solid showing against England in some testing conditions. He felt that the right-hander showed a lot of application during his stay in the middle.
"The way Rahul showed application in building his innings, the shots he played, the cover drives. The Indian team will expect him to focus and play a match-winning knock, score a hundred," Zaheer Khan said while speaking on Cricbuzz, reported India Today.Â
He also drew a parallel between Rahul Dravid and him, stating that both have done the wicketkeeping job when the team required them to do so and the Indian batter should be happy if he gets compared to the legend.Â
"Absolutely. Add another point - 'that' Rahul also held the wicketkeeping gloves for the team and Rahul did the same as well. It could either be the Bangalore connection or the connection of their names but he's very talented too. Rahul Dravid has done so much for India that this show won't suffice to talk about it. But yes, seeing such a role model who has done so much for the team compared to him and seeing that he's being looked at with the same eyes, KL Rahul would be very happy."
