BENGALURU: “Mera ground hai,” declared KL Rahul after his unbeaten 93 on a tricky M Chinnaswamy stadium surface steered Delhi Capitals (DC) to a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Thursday night.
Rahul owned his home ground, where he has played many memorable knocks, including a triple century in Ranji Trophy. The 32-yearold has over t h e y e a r s m a s t e r e d the art of adaptation. From opening the innings to batting at No. 8 to displaying agility behind the stumps, Rahul, the quintessential team man, goes about his job without a fuss.
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In his 12th year as an international cricketer, Rahul has faced challenges aplenty. Having spent a lot of time over the last few years on the sidelines with multiple injury issues, he has scripted a fresh chapter each time critics begin to write his epilogue. A constant in this journey has been his ability to adapt.
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The flexibility he offers underlines his versatility, the depth of his class and craft. RCB’s batting coach Dinesh Karthik said the role Rahul was performing with such aplomb wasn’t straightforward.
“It’s very challenging to bat at different positions in T20. But it’s one that he’s (Rahul) done nicely in the recent past. For some time now, I’ve believed he’s a high-quality middle-order batter. And you can see the results coming through as well.”
Rahul, who was dropped when on only five runs by home team skipper Rajat Patidar, said at the post-match presentation, “This is my ground, this is my home. I know this (ground) better than anybody else. I enjoyed playing here.”
While the Capitals’ top-order comprising Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis and Abhishek Porel perished to cross-batted shots, most of Rahul’s big hits were a result of his open-faced bat approach.
“What helped me was being behind the stumps for 20 overs, just watching how it played. I figured that the ball sat in the wicket a little bit, but it was consistent. I knew what my shots were. Just wanted to get off to a good start, be aggressive initially and assess it from there. If I was trying to hit a big six, I knew what pockets to target. Wicketkeeping gave me a feel for how the other batters played,” Rahul explained.
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