‘If he continues to bat like he, we might see change’: Rohan Gavaskar on KL Rahul’s form – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Cricket analyst and commentator Rohan Gavaskar said that KL Rahul’s form would still not be a big concern in the dressing room despite his innings against Hong Kong that was termed as “slow.”

Gavaskar, speaking on Sports 18’s news show Over the Top, said that the leadership might have asked Rahul to spend some time in the middle, without worrying about the strike rate, considering Hong Kong was not a big threat.

“Look, I think he’s coming back from a long, long injury layoff. He didn’t get too many opportunities in the West Indies. And if you look at yesterday’s innings in isolation, 36 of 39 deliveries against Hong Kong seem to be slow. But I think in this case the team management would have said to him, this is a bit of a free hit, as 999 times out of 1000, you’re going to win against Hong Kong. So, this was a bit of a free hit, saying KL, take your time out there, get set, get a feel out there being in the middle and then we’ll see how it goes, Gavaskar explained.

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Rahul hit a couple of good shots in his innings against Hong Kong, but apart from it, struggled to time the ball to his best. After getting out for a golden duck against Pakistan, he was able to score some runs against Hong Kong, but at a strike rate lower than 100.

“If he continues to bat like he did in yesterday’s game, then I think, we might see a bit of a change. But yesterday there might have been some suggestion from the team management saying don’t worry about the strike rate for this particular game. Just worry about spending time in the middle, getting some runs, getting some confidence. Because we all know a confident KL Rahul is an asset to the side,” Gavaskar added.

Apart from Rahul, Gavaskar also praised Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering innings that ensured India’s score beyond 190. Gavaskar wants Suryakumar to be given free rein and a choice for his batting position.

Gavaskar said, “I’ve been saying this for a while. Listen, if we need to win the World Cup, our batting needs to revolve around SKY. We need to ask SKY, what is your position. Where do you think you can make the most impact?  Because we’ve seen him open, we’ve seen him bat at 3, we’ve seen him bat at 4. Do you feel that you can create the most damage opening the innings? [Or] Do you feel you could create the most damage at 3 or 4 and then listen to what he says and give him that free reign?”

Alongside KL Rahul, Virat Kohli had also struggled initially to score at a brisk rate. However, Suryakumar changed the momentum once he came in to bat.

“Because again yesterday, everyone was talking about the pitch being a little tough and not so easy to play shorts on and then he comes out and plays the kind of innings that only players with a special ability can play. You know strike rate of over 200. He was just phenomenal, and he made sure we had that little bit of push-in against Hong Kong. So, look, as I’ve said many times before, if we are to really progress in the World Cup, Sky is going to be such an influential part in that team and play such an influential role in that team.”

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