. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
The Indian cricket team which was struggling to find a proper solution for their middle-order conundrum has found some respite and solution in the last few months in the form of the dynamic KL Rahul and the Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer. The dashing KL Rahul has been the talk of the town for the past 2 months around the Indian cricketing fraternity for his amazing adaptability.
Here we look at 3 problems that KL Rahul has solved for India in the limited-overs
Stability to the middle order
The Kings XI Punjab captain replaced Pant as a stand-in wicketkeeper in the 1st One-day internationals against Australia when Pant was ruled out of the game due to concussion protocols. KL Rahul grabbed the opportunity with both the hands and impressed the team management and as a result, when Pant was ruled out from the 2nd ODI where he was still recovering from the concussion, Virat trusted KL Rahul to play as a specialist wicket-keeping batsman.
In the 2nd ODI, KL Rahul not only kept wickets but to everybody’s surprise came in to bat at #5 and thrashed 80 runs off just 52 deliveries and gave a perfect finish to the Indian innings. The No:5 position which was haunting India since the departure of Dhoni has now been solved and with a class batsman owning that important middle-order position, the top order with the likes of Rohit, Dhawan, and Virat can play with more freedom.
Wicketkeeping role allows better team balance
India are currently missing the services of Hardik Pandya who is an important member of the Indian cricket team. When Hardik returns from injury, he will straightaway walk into the squad at the expense of either Jadeja or another specialist batsman, but now since Rahul has been donning the keeping gloves, it allows India to play both Jadeja and Pandya which also gives the luxury of 6 bowling options for the skipper Virat Kohli.
Pressure off Top 3 in ODIs
One of the important issue for Indian cricket since the 2015 cricket world cup in Australia was the knock-out syndrome. India qualified for all the knockouts since 2013 champions trophy but failed to win an ICC event for once. Indian top-order failure in the knockouts is the important reason for India’s downfall in the semi-finals and finals. When the opposition bowlers knock out the Indian top 3, the game is pretty much done and dusted right at the start of the Indian innings. But with KL Rahul in at the middle order, India can be confident of the lower middle order as well.