Good To See Young Indian Players Coming Through, Says Ian Botham

Dec 19, 2016 at 1:51 PM

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Good To See Young Indian Players Coming Through, Says Ian Botham

Former English cricketer and legend Ian Botham heaped praises on India opener KL Rahul for his wonderful hundred on the third day of the fifth and final Test in Chennai. Rahul was unlucky to fall short of his maiden double hundred in Test cricket by one run.

Riding on Rahul’s knock India went closer to England’s total of 477 as they reached 391/4 at stumps. Nair who scored his maiden century in Test cricket on day four was involved in a 161 run stand with the Karnataka man Lokesh Rahul. Botham, however, felt bad for Rahul and admitted that the player would feel disappointed about the fact that he got out on 199.  However, Rahul’s innings did leave a impression on the England legend.

Botham quoted “He (Rahul) played extremely well. I think he curbed his natural instincts. I think he wanted to dominate and be more aggressive but he realised in the team’s interest he curbed all that and he played extremely well. He’ll be disappointed but believe me, if you’d have said to him before he went out and batted you can have a 199 today he would’ve snapped your hand off”

“He’ll be disappointed initially but he’ll get over it. It’s just the start of his career, he’s only 24 so he’s got everything in front of him and what a great way to start. He’s set himself a very high standard which is something that he’ll look forward to trying to maintain.”

The whole Indian team including skipper Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble looked down after Rahul got out as they desperately wanted the batsman to reach his maiden test double hundred. According to Botham the Indian team would not have said much to the right-hander after his excellent innings.

“I don’t think anyone gets told of to score 199, believe you me. They would have been disappointed for him but no more than that. They would have loved to see him still batting. It wasn’t to be but he played magnificently. He’s got 199 and it’s a fantastic effort”

Botham also feels India has a good pack of youngsters coming up which is always advantageous for a team. He praised the upcoming bunch of players who have performed up to their potential in the series against England.

“You’ve got a good crop of players coming through and I think it’s fantastic. You have Pujara for instance who got left out in the Caribbean but he sorted out his game and he’s improved it. We saw Rahul in this innings, Karun Nair is still there on 71. It’s good to see them coming through and you don’t want to rely too much on two players, Kohli and Pujara, all the time. You want to see these younger guys coming through and they are good to watch.”

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