Besides sharing the same name and hailing from the same city of Bengaluru, former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan sees few more similarities between batsman KL Rahul and ex-India captain Rahul Dravid.
Dravid was also seen as a team man who would give his 100 percent to the team whenever a demanding situation arose. Much like KL, Dravid also kept wickets as the team looked to adjust another batsman in the batting unit. Over the past year or so, KL has been doing the same for team India.
He can open the innings, bat in the middle-order, play the role of a finisher, can keep wickets, and even play in the outfield, KL Rahul can really do it all.
“The way Rahul showed application in building his innings, the shots he played, the cover drives. The Indian team will expect him to focus and play a match-winning knock, score a hundred,” Zaheer Khan said while speaking on Cricbuzz.
The abilities of KL Rahul and Rahul Dravid to change positions and roles whenever situation demands has become one of the major common factors between the two batsmen. Zaheer feels KL would be really happy seeing him being spoken about in the same breath as the former India captain.
“Absolutely. Add another point – ‘that’ Rahul also held the wicketkeeping gloves for the team and Rahul did the same as well. It could either be the Bangalore connection or the connection of their names but he’s very talented too.”
“Rahul Dravid has done so much for India that this show won’t suffice to talk about it. But yes, seeing such a role model who has done so much for the team compared to him and seeing that he’s being looked at with the same eyes, KL Rahul would be very happy,” Zaheer asserted.
KL Rahul, who was expected to bat in the middle order in the first Test, opened the inning for team India alongside Rohit Sharma at the cost of Mayank Agarwal, who suffered a head injury hours ahead of the 1st Test.
KL Rahul, who was playing Test match nearly after two years looked in a great touch with the bat as he smashed 84 runs off 214 balls to help his side take a considerable lead.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma gave a perfect start to the team as they added 97 runs for the first wicket before a mini-collapse. However, Rahul held one side strong as propelled India to a steady first-innings lead.
Currently, team India is in a healthy position in the first Test against England but still have a big job to do in the second innings. While the hosts would be determined to post a much-bigger score in the second innings, the onus would be on KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma again to give the visitors a perfect start just as the first innings.
