Former Indian cricketer and world cup hero Gautam Gambhir expects KL Rahul to have a fabulous IPL campaign when the second leg of the IPL resumes later this week as he believes that the big-hitter is yet to give his best despite an average of over 50 in the previous seasons.
After playing 7 matches in the first leg of the Indian Premier League, Punjab Kings’ skipper KL Rahul is averaging 66 with a strike rate of 136 runs. He scored 331 runs in the 7 matches he played, including four half-centuries with his highest runs being 91*.
Speaking on Star Sports show Game Plan, Gambhir talked about KL Rahul’s performances. Gambhir feels that we are yet to see the best of KL Rahul and went on to compare him with Virat Kohli. He said:
“We haven’t seen the best of KL Rahul. Yes, he has got runs, but we still haven”t seen, what he can achieve in his batting,”
“You could have a season like Virat Kohli had once. He’s that kind of a player in white-ball cricket, where he can get 2-3 hundreds in a season and at a very good strike rate as well,”
Gambhir also talked about other teams and he believes that the conditions in the UAE will favor Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians. He said:
“When you see the conditions in Chepauk or Delhi, they are completely different from what you get at Wankhede. And, as I mentioned, they are going into conditions that are suited to their fast bowling – people like Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult,”
He added:
“There will be swing upfront, so they will be very dangerous. Plus, Mumbai wants balls to swing and you’ve got quality fast bowlers and it’s going to be an advantage for them.
“Plus their batters, want the balls to come on to the bat as well, people like Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, all those guys struggled at Chepauk, because it was gripping and turning.”
Furthermore, Gambhir said that the RCB skipper Virat Kohli and his teammate AB de Villiers will come into the tournament with different challenges. He said:
“There’s going to be a challenge for Virat and there’s going to be a huge challenge for AB de Villiers as well because he will be coming into the tournament without playing any cricket at all.
“Virat Kohli will have to adjust really quickly because there”ll be hardly any time for him to get used to it.”
He added:
“From the five-Test-match series to the T20 format, and AB as well, because these guys need to get runs if they have to have a chance to first qualify for the playoffs and then probably go on to win the title.”
