Shane Watson, a former all-rounder for Australia, thinks that KL Rahul is at his most effective when he is hostile against the bowlers and takes them on. In Twenty20 matches, the opening batsman adopts a cautious batting style and strives to play a pivotal role in the innings, particularly in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
KL Rahul made his maiden Twenty20 international appearance of 2022 in the Asia Cup, after being sidelined for the better part of the year owing to recurrent injury worries. After getting out without scoring a run against Pakistan in the group stage, the player who was born in Karnataka had a disappointing comeback performance.
After that, he had a couple of more excellent excursions in the middle, both of which were quite different from one another in their character.
Thank you for all the wonderful memories on and off the field. Wishing you the best for your future endeavours. 🫡
— K L Rahul (@klrahul) September 6, 2022
What did Shane Watson say about KL Rahul?
In the most recent episode of the ICC Review, Watson made the following observation on Rahul, noting that his forte is in attacking the bowlers from other teams:
“All I want is for him to be the very best version of himself. The moments when I’ve seen the best version of him are the times when he’s truly taking the game. This has happened quite a few times during the Indian Premier League (IPL), and it has also happened quite a few times for India.
Once he gets his bearings and realizes what the circumstances are, he really dominates the other bowlers.”
People. Places. Memories. Blurred photos ☺️ pic.twitter.com/ZIzW9fyqkl
— K L Rahul (@klrahul) September 1, 2022
Watson continued by stating that the star batsman can score runs at a strike rate of more than 150 against any bowling attack.
“He is capable of scoring at a strike rate of 150 to 160 against the top bowlers in the world, and that would relieve some of the strain that is being placed on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli,”
He added: “When K.L. Rahul is playing at his very best, in my opinion, he is truly challenging himself and the game. He is not amassing runs; rather, he is taking them on, beginning with the first ball. That is the ability that he has.”
In the Indian Premier League 2022, Rahul led all Indian batters in run scoring with 616 runs at a strike rate of 135.38. Rahul played for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and had a successful season.
After the tournament, he had surgery for a hernia and was diagnosed with COVID-19, which forced him to miss a couple of months of action. However, he came back to lead the ODI series against Zimbabwe only a month ago.
