"He will curse himself a lot" - Sanjay Bangar on KL Rahul's dismissal in IND vs WI 2025 2nd Test

Former India player Sanjay Bangar has opined that KL Rahul would be extremely disappointed with his dismissal in the second Test against the West Indies. He noted that there was something amiss in the Indian opener's usage of his bottom hand.

Rahul scored 38 runs off 54 deliveries as India posted 318/2 in their first innings on Day 1 of the second Test against the West Indies in Delhi on Friday, October 10. Yashasvi Jaiswal (173* off 253) and Shubman Gill (20* off 68) were the unbeaten Indian batters at the close of play.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Bangar was asked about his thoughts on Rahul's knock on Day 1 of the Delhi Test.

"The way he batted at the start was typical KL Rahul, where he was allowing the ball to come to him. He is a batter who doesn't try to go onto the front foot much. He plays very well on the back foot, and that's why a lot of runs come in the square leg and fine leg region against the new ball. He played a few excellent shots off the back foot," the former India batting coach responded.

"We saw him using the bottom hand a little. The bottom hand didn't look good on the straight drive and the lofted on-drive, and I was feeling that something was wrong, because generally KL Rahul's aerial shots go towards the sight screen. When he thinks about his dismissal in the dressing room, he will curse himself a lot because something was wrong, due to which he couldn't convert this score into a big score," he added.

KL Rahul struck five fours and a six during his 38-run knock. He was stumped by Tevin Imlach off Jomel Warrican's bowling.

---

"He was totally deceived" - Aakash Chopra on KL Rahul's dismissal in IND vs WI 2025 2nd Test

KL Rahul (left) and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 58 runs for the first wicket. [P/C: BCCI/X]

In the same discussion, former India opener Aakash Chopra opined that KL Rahul was deceived by Jomel Warrican's delivery.

"He was totally deceived. He didn't have any idea. He was almost assuming that the ball was going straight with the arm, so he could jump down the track and try to play it. When you look back, you don't want to jump straight to a left-arm spinner," he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Rahul erred in his footwork while trying to play along the ground.

"You want to jump a little across. You want to go closer to the ball because you stay far when you want to hit a six. However, when you remain far when you are playing along the ground, it means you didn't read the ball from the hand at all. You shouldn't have been so far away," Chopra elaborated.

Sai Sudharsan was the other Indian batter dismissed on Day 1 of the Delhi Test. He was trapped lbw by Jomel Warrican for a 165-ball 87.