Former Indian cricketer Akash Chopra has backed KL Rahul despite his poor run and said that there’s no point doubting a match-winner over a couple of failed innings. KL Rahul, who was ranked as number 3 batsman in the ICC rankings, has been one of the most consistent batsmen in the shortest format of the game, however, he has been going through a rough phase in his career.
On 3rd T20I against England, KL Rahul was once again dismissed for a duck, which was his second successive duck in the ongoing 5-match T20I series.
Earlier he scored 1 and 0 in the 1st and 2nd T20I respectively. Even after his poor show, the star batsman was backed by the team management and Indian skipper to bat at the top order for team India. However, Rahul failed to give the best of his abilities as team India was thrashed by the England cricket team to lead the series by 2-1.
While, KL Rahul has found himself at the receiving end of criticism and trolling, he was backed by Aakash Chopra who called him a ‘match-winner’. Aakash Chopra took to his twitter and slammed critics for questioning Rahul’s form. He wrote:
“If we start asking questions about a runaway match-winner after just two low-scores, we aren’t going to build a team that’ll win the World Cup. If it’s Rahul today, it’ll be Ishan tomorrow…Pant day after. And then…will have a team of insecure players,”
Here, check out his tweet:
If we start asking questions about a runaway match-winner after just two low-scores, we aren’t going to build a team that’ll win the World Cup. If it’s Rahul today, it’ll be Ishan tomorrow…Pant day after. And then…will have a team of insecure players. IMHO. https://t.co/W369A0jxxb
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 15, 2021
Meanwhile, KL Rahul was also backed by the Indian skipper, who cited his own example and claimed that he was also out of form 2 matches ago and said things ‘turn around quickly in the T20 format’. Virat said:
“Well, I was going through a lean patch about 2 games ago. Look, these things turn around very quickly for us. He has been a champion player. If you look at his stats in the last 2-3 years, they are probably better than anyone in T20is,”
He added:
“So he will continue to be one of our main batters along with Rohit at the top of the order. So we don’t have any concerns there. T20 is a very instinctive game and we know once he starts to get going, and few shots come off, it’s just a matter of 5-6 balls in this format and suddenly you are back in that zone.”
