World Cup 2019: A look at KL Rahul's performance so far

KL Rahul, the young and talented Karnataka batsman, has shown a lot of promise in his nascent career so far. When in rhythm, he looks as good as anyone in the world. Rahul was selected as a reserve opener in the Indian World Cup squad, but he made it to the starting 11 in the middle-order following a century in the warm-up game against Bangladesh.

Rahul performed decently against South Africa when India were in deep trouble with the loss of two wickets at the score of 54 in 15.3 overs. The 27-year-old batsman put an 85-run stand with the Indian opener - Rohit Sharma. Rahul contributed only 26 runs in the steady partnership but he ensured that India don't lose any wicket and gain momentum. KL played a small cameo by scoring 11 runs off 3 balls against Australia.

The Indian fans along with the team management would have thought that the number 4 conundrum was solved as Rahul performed decently in the first two games. Things were going India's way but Shikhar Dhawan, the aggressive Indian opener, got ruled out of the World Cup due to an injury on his left hand. Rahul had just made his mind to play in the middle-order but was promoted to open the innings due to Dhawan's unavailability.

'Men in Blue' were scheduled to face their arch-rivals Pakistan in their next game at Old Trafford, Manchester. KL Rahul who is generally known for his attacking game-play scored 57 runs off 78 balls with a strike-rate of less than 75. The elegant batsman played 43 dot balls which meant that Rahul scored all the runs off 35 balls only. The Karnataka-born batsman again threw his wicket by playing a rash shot against Afghanistan after getting another decent start. India needed a set batsman to play a big knock on that tough pitch but he failed to make the most of a good opportunity. It should also be noted that he failed to score any run on 31 balls out of 53 balls against Afghanistan.

His inability to rotate the strike and not converting good starts into big scores was becoming a big problem. KL didn't get rid off this problem even against West Indies. He got another fair start against the Windies but couldn't play a big knock for his team. The issues worsened against the hosts England. Chasing the mammoth target of 338 runs, KL Rahul bagged a 9-ball duck. Rahul who made his ODI debut in 2016 against Zimbabwe has amassed 172 runs with one half-century in his maiden World Cup season so far. Also, he has not played any knock with 75+ strike-rate in the tournament so far in which he has played at least 25 balls.

Gameplay against pacers and spinners:

Pacers:

KL Rahul has got out five times in this World Cup so far and pacers have picked his wickets four times. He got out to Kagiso Rabada against South Africa, Wahab Riaz against Pakistan, Jason Holder against West Indies and Chris Woakes against England. He has faced 151 balls against pacers and played as many as 107 dot balls. He has managed to score only 85 runs with a strike-rate of less than 60 with a dot-ball percentage of more than 70. It is a well-known fact that generally, pacers open the bowling attack. KL Rahul plays cautiously at the beginning which is good. But, is he being over-conservative?

Spinners:

Rahul has got out to spinner for only one time in this World Cup when he got out to Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi. His game plan against spinners is decent but it can be improved a bit more. Facing a total of 98 balls against spinners, he has played 42 dot balls and scored 87 runs with a strike-rate of about 88. The dot ball percentage which is 70.86 against pacers falls to 42.85% against slow bowlers.

Rahul is obviously going to open the innings in rest of the matches as Dhawan is not available. The next matches of India in group-stage are against Bangladesh and Sri-Lanka which are comparatively weaker teams. It will be crucial for himself and India as well that he plays big knocks in those games. The team management will want him to face teams in knock-out matches with a positive mindset. Many of his dismissals have been soft-dismissals so far. It will be better if someone like coach Ravi Shastri or the captain Kohli has a chat with Rahul. Kohli's army needs the young lad to step up at the big stage.

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