Sunil Gavaskar feels that KL Rahul is a total team player, but the Indian opener is yet to realise his true potential. Rahul has struggled to nail down a spot for him in the Test team, having floated around different positions in the batting order. Rohit Sharma’s retirement has opened the door for him to be the partner of Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top.
Rahul got a fine start in the first innings when he scored 42 but failed to capitalise on it and get a big score. The Indian opener finds himself in a similar spot at 47 not out at the end of Day 3 as he looked in imperious touch in the final session and helped India get to 90 for two at stumps and have a lead of 96 runs.
Speaking to the broadcasters at the end of the day’s play, Gavaskar said that Rahul has an equanimity about him. However, the Indian legend felt that even Rahul would agree that he is yet to realise his true potential.
“Total team man. He has even been asked to keep wickets. He does that for the team, and that’s what you want in the team. You see the way he reacts to the situation. He’s got an equanimity about him, which is so rare because in today’s day and age where everybody’s got to be doing things to show that they have achieved something, his celebrations are also muted. One thing everybody agrees about KL Rahul is that he doesn’t know how good a player he is. I mean, he would agree,” said Gavaskar.
‘KL Rahul has got so much talent’
Gavaskar said that Rahul has got so much talent and a wide array of shots in his arsenal, but the Indian opener hasn’t lived up to the hype.
“He’s got so much talent. Look at all the shots on the offside, leg-side, the flick, everything. All the shots, but he hasn’t lived up to that. Now, that could be a bit of self-doubt in his mind or whatever that sometimes keeps the Bangalore boys from fulfilling their potential,” said Gavaskar.
Speaking about his strokeplay, Gavaskar said it was thrilling to watch Rahul on Day 3 and claimed he can keep raving about the Indian opener’s cover drive. The Indian legend also said that he hopes Rahul comes good in the series and gets close to 700 runs in the series.
“Thrilling to watch off the front foot, off the back foot, then the straight batter drive, which we saw just now and the cover drive. I can rave about that cover drive because there’s perfection in that.”
“I hope that he comes good in this series and scores over 500, maybe 700 runs. That would be fantastic from India,” said Gavaskar.