India vs West Indies 2018: KL Rahul Is Dealing With Both Technical And Mental Problem: Sunil Gavaskar

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar feels KL Rahul is dealing ‘with both technical and mental problem’ after the opener flopped again in the ongoing second Test against West Indies.

For quite some time now, KL Rahul’s weakness against incoming deliveries is being widely discussed. The highly-rated opener, who is being persisted with despite several failures, has managed to score only two fifty-plus knocks this year. What is even more alarming that he has been dismissed by pacers 16 times. Out of these dismissals, five have been bowled and four leg-before. In his career so far, he has been out bowled/LBW a total of 21 times, 17 of which have come against the pacers. The stats pretty much point that there are some technical problems with his batting.

Rahul has been inconsistent since the tour of England. He had begun his tour of England on a perfect note. In the first T20I, he slammed a stunning ton to guide India to a comprehensive win. However, things did not go down well for Rahul after that.

In the ODIs, he scored 9 and 0 before being dropped. The poor form continued in Tests too.  In the series-opener, he scored 4 and 13.  In the second game at Lord’s, he managed 8 and 10. He looked good at Trent Bridge but threw away the starts, thus scoring 23 and 36. He followed them with scores of 19, 0 37.  However, he scored 149 in the final Test to ease the pressure off himself.

But the century looks just like a flash in the pan after his performance in the ongoing series against West Indies. He was out for  a duck in the first Test where three Indian batsmen including debutant Prithvi Shaw scored centuries while two other scored fifties. On Saturday, he managed just 4 off 24 balls before falling lbw to Jason Holder. At a time when his partner Shaw was taking the West Indies attack to the cleaners, Rahul was struggling even to time his shots.

And Sunil Gavaskar feels the opener is suffering from a technical as well as mental problem.

“He’s (KL Rahul) dealing with both technical and mental problem. His head is falling towards off and his body then goes across the line. That’s why the LBWs and bowled dismissals. He’s got to adjust quickly,” Gavaskar told Aaj Tak. 

Meanwhile, India ended the day two on 308 for 4 in reply to West Indies’ first innings total of 311.