India wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik explained how KL Rahul tweaked his game to suit the longest form of the game.
Dinesh Karthik, who himself scored a brilliant hundred in Vijay Hazare Trophy final yesterday, reviewed the first day’s play in a show with Cricbuzz. Karthik pointed out that Rahul used to play an ultra-aggressive game in domestic cricket which didn’t work out at the international level. But now as he made a few adjustments which have done wonders for him on the first day’s play at Centurion.
“The one thing that KL was caught up with was the way to play Test cricket because when he used to play domestic cricket he used to hit a lot of sixes to fast-bowlers over covers, over long-on, these sort of shots.
“So, when he brought that to the table in Test match cricket, obviously it wasn’t that easy to consistently keep doing that to bowlers who bowled 140, 145+, and the odd time that you do get out playing a big shot it doesn’t look good as an opener,” Karthik spoke to Cricbuzz.
Yesterday Rahul played a very disciplined knock as he left lots of deliveries outside off and was ready to play the waiting game. Earlier this year he also scored a brilliant hundred at Lord’s.
“He’s changed a few things technically like the way he stands, his position of hands, these sort of small things that he has worked on and got better at it and that has given him the confidence to go out there…
“The way he handled the second new ball was brilliant. The way he was leaving the ball, how late he’s playing it. He’s generally someone who goes for a cover drive and the uppercut a lot but now you can see he’s waiting on the cover drive, allowing the ball to come to him which in turn is getting him into good positions to play the right shots,” he explained further.
He also lauded the efforts of the opening pair as the Karnataka duo (KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal) added 117 runs for the first wicket to put India in a driving seat. Notable that this is the 6th opening pair which India has used in past one year.
“It was a bit of a case of musical chairs there because there have been openers doing phenomenally well for India… It’s great to see both these boys, very good friends off the field as well, coming from the same state of Karnataka. And for the first time, two guys from Karnataka have got a hundred run start as well.
“Things look really ominous [from] India at the moment. There’s openers galore. In the shed there’s Priyank Panchal, we have Prithvi Shaw doing well and Abhimanyu Easwaran. It’s great to see Mayank and KL grabbing the opportunity with both hands,” he added further.
With the help of the amazing knock from KL Rahul (122*), India held the upper hand as they finished the day with 272/3 at the close of the first day.
Also read KL Rahul Becomes 2nd Indian Opener After Wasim Jaffer To Score A Test Ton In South Africa