IND vs SA: "Don't Care What Others Think" - Sunil Gavaskar Backs His Statement On KL Rahul's Centurion Ton

Former Indian Skipper, Sunil Gavaskar backed his statement of considering KL Rahul’s knock in the Boxing Day Test at Centurion as one of the top 10 innings in Indian Test history. KL Rahul played a brilliant knock on a tough swinging track at SuperSport Park. The wicketkeeper-batter embraced the new role in the middle order and capitalized on the opportunity to get India to a respectable first-innings total.

KL Rahul became the first touring batter to hit two hundreds in Test cricket at the SuperSport Park, Centurion. India reached a competitive total of 245 laying back on Rahul’s 101 which came on a pitch that offered seam and extra bounce to the pacers. KL Rahul came onto bat at No. 6 for only the second time in his career, and he had a tough task to repair the Indian innings. India was 92 for 4 when he came in and was quickly reduced to 121 for 6.

KL Rahul reconstructed the Indian innings batting with the lower-order batters wonderfully and looked the most comfortable against the South African pace attack. He took a few blows on his body but was resilient in getting to his hundred. Rahul was unbeaten on 70 overnight when India was 208 for 8. On Day 2 he scored the bulk of runs with his last 31 coming at a brisk pace. He completed his ton with a six which was his fourth in the innings. His innings also had 14 boundaries.

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Sunil Gavaskar had mentioned KL Rahul’s knock among the top 10 Test knocks played by Indian batters earlier and now he has reiterated his take on it. “Again, I can’t say that I have seen all the Test hundreds that Indian batters have scored. But from whatever, I have seen, I don’t care what the others think. In my book, it definitely ranks among the top 10 hundreds by an Indian in Test cricket,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports.

There were a few who thought that Rahul’s inning was overrated as Dean Elgar is still unbeaten at 140 at the same pitch and South Africa has propelled to 256/5. However, Sunil Gavaskar said that the pitch has definitely improved in terms of batting since Day 1 and that is the reason for Elgar’s innings.

Sunil Gavaskar Compares KL Rahul’s And Dean Elgar’s Hundred

“Because the pitch was what it was yesterday, it certainly has improved a lot from yesterday. The ball was climbing up, the ball was climbing from a good length, at times. He took a few knocks as well. The odd one would shoot through.”

“And then when he came into bat, India were not in such a great position. They were 90-odd for 4, and he held the innings together, adding valuable runs. 245 is a pretty decent total when you see what happened at the end of the day today. South Africa is 11 runs ahead, Bavuma is not 100 per cent, so we don’t know whether he will come out to bat. If they can restrict South Africa to another 20-30 runs, they keep themselves in the game.”

“Therefore, what we saw from Rahul from yesterday, and today also. Batting with the tailenders from 70 to 100 runs, the 30 runs he scored today out of the 40 that were scored by India just tells you how well he batted,” Gavaskar added.

KL Rahul succeeded after agreeing to take up the role of wicketkeeper-batter in Tests. He was dropped earlier in the year midway through the Border-Gavaskar trophy against Australia due to his poor run of form as an opener. However, Rahul used all his experience of batting at the top in the Centurion knock to steer India out of trouble.

“The fact that he has been an opening bat, and he has now got the opportunity to bat at 6. He has the mentality to play the moving ball, to handle the bounce, and that’s coming in handy. I think that is one of the reasons why India is fortunate that he has now decided to take up keeping. It adds balance and depth to the Indian batting. Imagine if he was not there at No. 6, what would have been India’s score?” Gavaskar added.

India will be now hoping to get Dean Elgar out quickly and wrap up the South African innings by bundling the lower order. However, Dean Elgar is unbeaten on 140 and he can pose a great threat to the Indian bowling attack. India must have a plan for the South African opener and get him out as quickly as possible.

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