‘KL Rahul is scared of getting out, he is just restricting himself’: Former greats slam India opener after another failure

Rahul (17), who survived two DRS appeals by Australia, was trapped leg-before as Lyon tossed one from round the wicket and got it to deviate enough and find his pads.

Rahul’s saga of failures led to questions from former greats including Sunil Gavaskar and Mark Waugh. According to Gavaskar, Rahul has a mental block and doesn’t know whether to go forward or back.

“He doesn’t know whether to go back or come forward. With KL Rahul, he takes his front foot across and the ball is turning into you, you have to play with a straight bat but when you take your front foot across like that you are left with no choice but to play with an angled bat,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“The chances of you missing the ball are more. Rohit takes the front foot away, so he allows the bat to come around and play the ball in front of the pad. That’s why you see Rohit Sharma look so secure and why Rahul looks tentative,” Gavaskar added.

Meanwhile, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar shared his thought on Rahul’s dismissal and said, “By aggression, I don’t mean he defends three balls and looks to hit a six in the fourth. I want him to be able to bat freely like Virat Kohli starts looking from ones and twos from ball one. That’s the way you become successful. You have to be proactive. When you are worried about getting out, your natural instincts get shackled.”