“KL Rahul reminds me of Rahul Dravid. KL Rahul is ready to do anything, it shows that he is a team-player. If you play me at No.5, then I will do that role for the team,” Kaif was heard saying on the post-match show on the Sony Sports Network.
“I will keep if you ask me to do that. Here you want me to open, I will do that as well. As a captain or team management, you are on the lookout for players like KL Rahul who is ready to lay down his life for the team. There are very few players who come like him.”
In the first T20I against Australia at Canberra, Rahul top-scored with 51 off 40 balls even as wickets kept crumbing around him. Praising Rahul, Kaif, the architect of India’s famous 2002 Natwest win, explained, “He played fast at the start but had to slow down when the wickets were falling. And he did not get the strike as well. Then once you get the strike, you are confused if you should play the big shot or take singles because you are losing out on overs.
“I feel it was a perfect innings. He started very well and later we do expect that he scores 80-90 runs but he got out. But overall, it was a very good innings because a batsman wants to bat based on the situation. And it is not that he cannot play the big shots. Whenever he wants, he can play the big shots and can also score 20 runs in an over, but he did not change the gear intentionally because he felt that the wickets were falling and he wanted to play till the end,” he added.
India take on Australia in the second T20I on Sunday at Sydney with an aim to series the three-match series.
--By A Cricket Correspondent
