KL Rahul has recently taken charge as captain of the Indian Test team during the series against South Africa, due to India's lack of a regular finisher. He has performed well filling that position, having scored two 50s from the lower middle-order spot under pressure, with both his 50s in the Tests against South Africa scored from under pressure on both occasions. He scored 126 runs in his 2 Test matches at an average of 63 and a strike rate of 93.8, with a high of 66 runs from 43 deliveries. KL Rahul has proven himself capable of keeping his cool in challenging situations and has demonstrated leadership qualities from the lower middle-order.
Dale Steyn has been very complimentary about KL Rahul's composure and ability to finish an innings through to the end while under pressure. He believes KL will be able to score many centuries in his career based on his skills at adapting to playing from the lower middle-order position as a result of his versatility as a batsman. Moreover, Dale stated that he is impressed by KL's overall cricketing awareness and instincts when batting.
DALE STEYN PRAISES KL RAHUL
"He knows what to do. If he is opening the batting on the team or if he's batting three, I think that he would easily score more hundreds because of the lack of balls faced in either position. However, other players have those responsibilities an,d that's fine because he knows his role within this team an,d he has had an amazing couple of innings so far for this team," said Steyn on Star Sports.
Steyn further lauded the Indian captain on his game awareness and leadership, praising him for the way he set about structuring his innings and how he was able to navigate the important moments of an innings under pressure.
"KL, with a great knock, has done a good job to lead his team in the first one, he has been able to pick up the scoring rate when needed to. He again has had a great knock today, he has been able to go through that little semi-slow period with Jadeja, and South Africa's bowlers did well in that little transition time and picked up their most expensive over of the innings in the last over of the series," continued Steyn.
THE TOSS CURSE
With KL Rahul, as captain, still hoping for a good toss before the third ODI against Australia in Raipur, India has yet to win a toss since the start of the 2023 ODI World Cup and has lost 20 in a row for this tournament. The team struggled to defend the massive target of 359 in the second ODI against Australia when the bowlers were put under pressure and dew made conditions even more difficult for the Indian squad than they normally would have been.
