Dale Steyn believes KL Rahul would have scored many more century had he batted at No. 3. His appraisal came after India’s stand-in captain hit an unbeaten 66 off only 43 balls in the second One-Day International against South Africa in Raipur on Wednesday, December 3.
The Karnataka batsman hit six fours and a couple of sixes during his stroke-filled innings. He ended with a strike rate of 153.49 and laid the foundation for India to set up a mammoth 359-run target for South Africa in the second innings. The Proteas survived a terrific batting effort to win with four balls and as many wickets in hand.
Dale Steyn praised Rahul for his match-winning knock despite the fact that Ravindra Jadeja found it tough to get going at the other end.
“He just knows how to do it. Again, if he batted 3 or if he opened the batting, I am pretty certain he would also go on to get the hundreds because of the lack of deliveries faced. But those positions are for other players, and he knows what his role is within this team. And both games so far, he has played fantastic innings,” Steyn said while analysing the innings on Star Sports.
“A good, handy knock set by the skipper, KL, and he led his team well in the first one, managed to up the ante when he needed to. And again today, there was a period where he went semi-slow with Jadeja. South Africa bowled well in that little transitional period there, and the last over picked up the most expensive over of the innings.”
Dale Steyn
KL Rahul also scored a vital 60 from 56 balls in the first One-Day International played in Ranchi last week. But that was in a winning cause.
The three-game ODI series is level at 1-1. The last game will be played on Saturday, December 6, at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
