I Still Think KL Rahul Can Be The Next Big Thing in Indian Cricket - Sunil Gavaskar
Updated - 22 Jan 2019, 04:54 PM
Former Indian National Cricket team skipper Sunil Gavaskar believes suspended cricketer KL Rahul is still the next big thing in Indian cricket. Meanwhile, BCCI have suspended Rahul along with Hardik Pandya for their controversial remarks on a talk show.
Moreover, KL Rahul has struggled to hit the right chords in the last few games. He failed to put up runs behind his name in Australia and eventually had to sit out. And now with Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw cashing in on their opportunity, his place in the side looks in jeopardy. However, Sunil Gavaskar still feels he has the capability to be the next big thing in Indian cricket.
“I think it is a combination of poor technique and mental frailty,” Gavaskar said. “He is short of runs, so he is short of confidence. I’ve said it before but I think he is going to be the next big thing in Indian cricket and I do believe he still has the capability of becoming the next big thing if he just solely focuses on his batting and a couple of things that seem to have crept in,” he added.
Rahul needs to figure out his preliminary movement
Moreover, Sunil Gavaskar also laid down what KL Rahul needs to do to get his scoring boots going again. Gavaskar added that the Karnataka batsman needs to focus on his balance while moving his feet. The former cricketer also urged Rahul to be wise while taking opinions from others.
“I think what he really needs to do is figure out his preliminary movement. Sachin [Tendulkar] had a slight front foot movement… not even front and across. Just slight front foot movement. He got his momentum to go forward or back from that. But your balance still remains the same. In Rahul’s case, the balance doesn’t remain the same because when he goes on the back foot and then onto the front, the balance has moved so much to the front that he is unable to make that late adjustment.
So he needs to do two things in my view. One, he needs to just go back. Not back and across. Leg-stump to leg-stump. He needs to go just back which is exactly what I remember telling the other Rahul (Dravid) when he was also going back and across. And I think he put it in. Secondly, you are going to get loads of advice from a lot of people but at the end of the day, you have got to filter it out and take what works for you,” Gavaskar continues.
But I think if he manages to go just back, it will give him a better idea of where his off-stump is. He will then know that he is chasing deliveries that are well wide of the off-stump. Look at the number of deliveries, he has got out chasing on the sixth stump. On the fourth stump is understandable. But he gets out on the fifth and sixth stump at the start of the innings and that is why he needs to make that adjustment. Then, the front foot is still on the off-stump,” he concluded.
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Indian National Cricket Team KL Rahul Sunil Gavaskar
