Rahul’s form is the biggest positive for Ashish Nehra: Former Indian fast bowler was wax lyrical about the opening batsman.
Former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra considered opening batsman Lokesh Rahul’s coming back into form as the biggest positive for India from the first T20I against Australia at Visakhapatnam.
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In a match where the Indian team was restricted at 126-7 in 20 overs, Rahul had scored his fifth T20I half-century. Opening the batting for India, Rahul remained unaffected by the early dismissal of vice-captain Rohit Sharma (5).
The 26-year old right-hand batsman shared a 55-run partnership for the second wicket alongside captain Virat Kohli. Had it not been his half-century, India would have struggled to reach even 126.
“It was a good half-century”
In an interview with Cricket Next, Nehra praised Rahul for coming good after the captain and coach backed him ahead of regular opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan.
“Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri rested Shikhar Dhawan hoping KL Rahul to come good. That is what exactly KL Rahul did. It was a good half-century. Definitely, KL Rahul would have disappointed at that time because India needed him to carry on and cross 150 runs on the board,” Nehra was quoted as saying.
Highlighting his poor run in the recent times, Nehra believed that Rahul would take the half-century gleefully. Nehra went on to say that it was the biggest positive point for him.
“But, the way his form in the recent months, he would take that. For me, it was the most positive point for me in this game. Because, it was a low-scoring game, in which, batsman found it tough to get their runs on the board,” Nehra added.
