"Corrected that one little flaw he had" - Sanjay Manjrekar's massive statement on Team India star after Day 3 of ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes opener KL Rahul has ironed out his lone weakness of inconsistency in the ongoing Test series in England. Manjrekar's remarks came after the 33-year-old scored a masterful 100 off 177 deliveries in the first innings of the third Test at Lord's.

It was Rahul's 10th Test century, with half of them coming against England and an incredible four in England. Despite his brilliance in the ongoing series, the veteran batter entered the UK tour with a Test average of under 34 in 58 outings.

However, Rahul has already crossed three figures twice in five innings in this series.

Talking about the stylish opener on ESPN Cricinfo after Day 3 at Lord's, Manjrekar said (4:04):

"It's something we know about KL Rahul, there are no obvious weaknesses, except for the little period he was uncertain outside off. Once he worked that out, you couldn't find a loophole in his batting, defense, or attack. The only issue he had was of carrying his form and he has done that beautifully in this series. So, he has also corrected that one little flaw that he had."

He added:

"Perfection of batting to be very honest. He hasn't put a foot wrong and even with Jofra Archer coming back into the side and being an opener, facing him with the new ball, it seemed like he had lot more ability in spare to handle this kind of an attack. He hasn't put a foot wrong and that's been the hallmark of his performances this series."

Rahul joined Dilip Vengsarkar as the only Indian batters with multiple Test centuries at Lord's. The former scored his maiden Test ton at the venue in 2021.

"He tackled England's short-ball ploy easily" - Sanjay Manjrekar on KL Rahul

Sanjay Manjrekar praised KL Rahul for tackling England's short-ball ploy on Day 3 of the Lord's Test with ease. With the Indian opener being untroubled for his entire innings, skipper Ben Stokes tried the short-ball tactic to no avail.

Rahul's knock included 13 glorious boundaries as he reached the milestone off 176 deliveries.

"He tackled England's short-ball ploy easily because this is a pitch which is not going to really help you with that tactic. So, it was Ben Stokes just trying to latch on to anything he could and to set, class batters with no history of weaknesses against the short-ball, he was never going to fall trap to that," said Manjrekar (via the aforementioned source).

Rahul's heroics helped India finish on level footing with the hosts after the first innings, with both teams scoring 387.