Former all-rounder Irfan Pathan heaped admiration on KL Rahul, calling him a rare and essential asset in modern-day cricket for India following his spectacular performance in the ongoing series against New Zealand. The former left-arm pacer was analyzing India’s loss to New Zealand in the second one-day international in Rajkot, but praised Rahul for his unbeaten century in the first innings at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Wednesday.
Irfan Pathan lauded Rahul’s versatility and experience and called him the saviour for India. KL Rahul, who batted after Men in Blue suffered a mini-batting-collapse. The ace cricketer brought India back in the game first forming a 73-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja before he went on to take the Kiwis head on with a gritty 112 runs off 92 balls. Irfan wished Rahul well for his fine contributions notwithstanding the tough circumstances and then complimented him on scoring runs.
“No amount of praise is enough for KL Rahul. He batted at No.5 and No.6. He is a versatile player and modern-day cricket rarely has such a player. Rahul opens in Test cricket and bats down the order in ODIs. Rahul is at a stage where he has an opportunity to refine his game and his average is above 50. His strike rate used to be about 85 and it has surged to above 90. Despite the fall of wickets, Rahul was rotating the strike. Ravindra Jadeja struggled to do it but Rahul still had a strike rate of 91 against spinners,” said Irfan while speaking on his YouTube channel.
The cricketer-turned-commentator praised Rahul’s all-round skills before referring to him as India’s ‘Sankat Mochan’ (Crisis Man).
“He has a range of shots – plays sweep and does well on back foot and front foot. He has all the shots even against the fast bowlers. He is using his experience exceptionally well. I call him ‘Sankat mochan’ and he has justified that tag.”
Irfan Pathan
New Zealand continued to bounce back after losing the first ODI to draw level in the three-match series. Pursuing an attainable target of 285 runs, the Kiwis romped home on a memorable century by Daryl Mitchell (131). He was named the man of the match. India will play New Zealand next in the Indian Ground Series on Sunday, 18 January at HolKar cricket ground in Indore.
