KL Rahul is possibly one of the finest modern-day batters and yet he continues to garner all the bad headlines. Sometimes, it is his temperament, sometimes it is the shot selection which has attracted bad blood from his fans and pundits. The recent T20 World Cup was a case in point where the batter scored two fifties, but failed to make an impact against big teams like Pakistan and England. Although, he seems to be back in business with a 70 plus score in the first ODI against Bangladesh, his temperament again came under scrutiny when he dropped a sitter of Mehidy Hasan Miraj at a crucial juncture of the game.
Hasan would go into see his team home with Bangladesh beating India by one wicket.
Meanwhile, his IPL coach Andy Flower is firmly behind him and backed him to come good, saying that there is no two ways about the fact that he is a match winner. Both have worked together at Lucknow Super Giants and made sure that the team had a more than average debut season as they reached the last four.
“He has proved time and time again that he is able to deliver. He is an amazing cricketer and so beautiful to watch but also he has got an amazing record, especially in the IPL, and a ridiculously good average. I rate him very highly,” he was quoted by the Times of India.
Earlier KL Rahul became the butt of jokes on social media as he dropped a sitter off Mehidy Hasan Miraj. The India skipper Rohit Sharma was seen getting furious at the LSG skipper as India continued to have an average day in the field.
Coming back into the match, Bangladesh’s last wicket pair of Mehidy Hasan Miraj and Mustafizur Rahaman pulled off an absolute heist with a thrilling 51-run stand as India choked during final half an hour to lose a low-scoring opening ODI by one wicket Sunday.
While India produced yet another poor batting show which saw them get all-out for 186 in 41.2 overs, the bowlers did a splendid job to reduce Bangladesh to 136 for 9 in the 40th over. However KL Rahul, who was entrusted with keeping duties to fit him and another veteran Shikhar Dhawan in the same XI, dropped an aerial sitter when Bangladesh still needed 32 runs.
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