Zaheer Khan Likens 'Team Man' KL Rahul With The Legendary Rahul Dravid

Former Indian left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan has likened stylish batsman KL Rahul to the legendary Rahul Dravid with regards to his altruistic attitude towards the Indian team.

Rahul Dravid was a complete team-man during his 16-year-old career as he regularly moved out of his comfort zone for the sake of his team.

Whether it was donning the keeping gloves in ODI cricket or opening the innings in Tests, Dravid performed every role to the best of his ability.

The same can be said about KL Rahul, who has also donned the keeping gloves for India in white-ball cricket besides batting in the middle-order despite being a specialist opener.

The Karnataka cricketer was earmarked as a middle-order batter for the Test series against England but with Mayank Agarwal getting injured on the eve of the Test match, he had to step up and take the opening spot.

And, he has performed it admirably thus far.

On a lively wicket under overcast conditions and against a world-class English attack, KL Rahul spearheaded the Indian innings, scoring a patient 214-ball 84.

“Absolutely. Add another point – ‘that’ Rahul also held the wicketkeeping gloves for the team and this 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.” said Zaheer Khan on CricBuzz.

KL Rahul is only the fourth Indian opener to score two 80+ scores in England this century.

The list also includes:

Rahul Dravid
Virender Sehwag
Murali Vijay#ENGVIND pic.twitter.com/o8tkW8aeCd

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) August 6, 2021

Zaheer Khan further added that the manner in which KL Rahul has played in the first innings of the Nottingham Test, he will be talked about a lot during the course of the series.

“KL Rahul will be talked about a lot throughout this series. The way he has utilized the opportunity, the application he has shown, the way he’s leaving balls and cover drives he has played, the head position and the perfect lean, he surely deserves praise,” said Khan.

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