Highlights
- KL Rahul had sustained a groin injury after IPL 2022
- KL Rahul led India in the recently concluded Zimbabwe tour
- Rahul faced a lot of flak for his 39 ball 36 against Hong Kong
Asia Cup 2022: Rohit Sharma-led team India has been on a dominant run in the Asia Cup so far. They beat Hong Kong in their second match of Group A by a margin of 40 runs. Before this, Team India clashed with their arch-rivals Pakistan and outplayed themselves in every department of the game. The men in blue were too good for the boys in green as they inflicted a loss of 5 wickets on them. The Asia Cup which is being played in the United Arab Emirates in a way is a dress rehearsal for the upcoming T20I World Cup which will be played in Australia later this year. With a win over Hong Kong, Rohit Sharma has now raced ahead of Virat Kohli in terms of the most number of T20I wins. Former India captain MS Dhoni has 41 T20I wins, whereas Rohit, with 31 T20I wins has left Virat Kohli behind who has 30 T20I wins to his credit.
Before the start of this Asia Cup, all the spotlight was on Virat Kohli who has been in a rough patch and hasn't scored an international century in over 1000 days. But the former India captain has turned it all around with his stellar show in the ongoing Asia Cup. As of now, Virat is the leading run-scorer for team India in the muti-nation cricketing tournament and has amassed 94 runs in two matches. It was his innings against Hong Kong which had glimpses of the old Virat Kohli who dominated the world for over a decade. But as of now, India has a more serious issue to deal with, the form and fitness of their key player and opening batsman KL Rahul.
KL Rahul, who has always been hailed as this highly talented batsman, a batsman who can turn the game on its head hasn't been able to get going in the Asia Cup recently. He marked his comeback from a groin injury when India toured Zimbabwe for a three-match ODI series before the Asia Cup. Rahul led India to a series victory but his bat did not do enough talking. High hopes were pinned on KL Rahul when he headed into the Asia Cup, but he as of now certainly looks far from his best.
In the match against Pakistan, where India was chasing 147. KL Rahul opened with Rohit Sharma. Interestingly, India, before the Asia Cup tried many combinations for the opening slot. Rishabh Pant, Suryakumara Yadav, and Shreyas Iyer were all tried, but it was KL Rahul who made the cut once he returned from his injury. Rahul in a pretty dismal performance against Pakistan was dismissed on a duck by debutant Shaheen Afridi but his recent worst came against team Hong Kong where India was put to bat first. To everybody's surprise, Rahul looked rusty, and against an attack like Hong Kong, he scored a mediocre 36 off 39 deliveries. This innings of Rahul drew massive criticism from everywhere and some even termed him a selfish player. But irrespective of everything, this is a spot of bother for team India and it is high time that the management thinks about it.
