KL Rahul Reveals Difference While Opening With Murali Vijay And Shikhar Dhawan
Published - 29 Dec 2017, 07:41 PM | Updated - 22 Aug 2024, 11:47 PM
KL Rahul and Murali Vijay had almost fixed their place in the Test side as the opening pair when the team was touring Sri Lanka. However, just a few days before the start of the tour, Vijay pulled out from the series as he was yet to recover from the wrist issue. Shikhar Dhawan was called into the side to replace him.
Dhawan was to be benched for the first Test, but KL Rahul fell ill before the first game and Dhawan played. He scored a century, which forced captain Kohli to bench Abhinav Mukund for the next game when KL Rahul returned.
Dhawan continued his form and fixed place in the team, and when Vijay returned, it was my matter of one Test when he walked in the side in place of KL Rahul.
Rahul is going to South Africa tour as a third opener and will only get a chance if any of the two openers get injured or flop entirely, at least in the first two games.
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The question of the rapport between the three openers has come up sometimes because only two of them can play in a game and also a difference in style of play.
On being asked the difference in opening with Dhawan and Vijay, KL Rahul said that Dhawan is more attacking if compared to Vijay,
“There is a calmness in how Vijay goes about his innings. The way he takes his time and the way he leaves balls around off-stump. He controls that phase of the game and gives a lot of confidence, as a result, to the man at the other end. Shikhar is more attacking. The right-left combination also makes the bowler constantly readjust his line and length. It gives an opportunity to get more bad balls,” he told The Indian Express.
Just after the end of the third T20I against Sri Lanka, where the home side defeated the visitors, Ravi Shastri heaped praises on KL Rahul and called him an improved player. On being asked whether Shastri has himself said such a thing to him, Rahul said,
“He hasn’t said this to me in as many words, but he’s somebody who has helped me a lot. He has helped me mentally and given me confidence as a coach and is like a mentor to all of us. He is constantly asking us to be fearless and back our game. He is someone with whom I can talk about anything.”
KL Rahul is a part of the Test side for the tour and is expected to be named in the T20I side as well. He has not been named in the ODI side, a decision which has raised few eyebrows. It is still not clear whether he will head back home for more than 15 days when the two teams will play six ODIs.
The first Test of the series will is played at Newlands in Cape Town from January 5 to 9. The second and third Test starts on January 13 and 24 respectively. ODI series will commence on February 1 while theT20I stars on February 18 next year.
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