KL Rahul was praised by West Indies legendary former batsman Brian Lara who said he would pay to watch the right-hander bat when former Australian captain Ricky Ponting asked him to pick his favourite player.
The West Indies legend had only named in his mind when he was asked to name his favourite player for the upcoming series. KL Rahul scored 93 runs in three ODIs and 81 runs in three T20Is.
KL Rahul Would Be Loved To Watch: Brian Lara Names Favourite Cricketer
The upcoming India-Australia four-match Test series is expected to be a cricket fan’s delight with some of the biggest names, and most followed cricketers across the world like Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Jasprit Bumrah and Pat Cummins going up against each other for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“Brian, who is your favourite player in international cricket at the moment?” Asked Ponting while hosting a discussion for 7 cricket, the host broadcaster for the India vs Australia Test series with Lara and Sunil Gavaskar.
The stylish left-hander said the way KL Rahul scores runs in the shortest formats of the game by playing correct cricketing shots is what makes him special.
“That’s easy! It’s KL Rahul. If you’re talking about the two teams that are playing, KL Rahul it is for me. He is someone I’d pay to watch to bat,” said Lara.
“In the world Jofra Archer is excellent, Nicholas Pooran is there but I just love watching KL Rahul, especially in T20s, I know he’s going into Test cricket but in T20 when you see guy batting correctly with the ability to score runs with traditional shots, is just exceptional to watch,” added Brian Lara.
KL Rahul is making a comeback into the Indian Test side after playing last against West Indies in 2019 on the back of his white-ball success and IPL.
KL Rahul Probably Turned Himself Into Better White Ball Player: Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting said that the Karnataka right-hander appeared to be a proper Test cricketer when he first arrived in 2014 as he debuted earlier in Tests. Still, it was commendable the way he crafted his game to become a very successful limited-overs batsman having an average of 45 in ODIs and T20Is.
“He’s an interesting one for me. If you wind the clock 2-3 years back, he was probably an out and out technically correct Test match batsman but what he’s been able to do with his T20 batting in the last 2 IPLs has been unbelievable. He’s probably turned himself into a better white-ball player now. That doesn’t happen that often,” Ponting added.
KL Rahul kept wickets in the 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is but didn’t feature in the two practice matches before the 4 test match series where Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal will give him a hard time to be selected ahead of them.
Rohit Sharma’s comeback for last 2 tests and availability of Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha as specialist wicket-keepers in the squad will increase his difficulty of getting a place in starting XI in any of four Tests.