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'Hooda, SKY have shown how T20 batting is done. It's time KL Rahul pulls up his socks': Ex-India pacer rings alarm bells
The emergence of players such as Suryakumar and Hooda have mounted pressure on senior, especially Virat Kohli, who continues to struggle for runs. However, a former India pacer feels the manner in which India has started batting in T20Is, it also promises to put KL Rahul under the pump.
India's new batting template has got the cricket world talking. Gone are the anchor roles, the steady batting and preserving wickets. Instead, under Rohit Sharma, India have found a method which could well help them go all the way at this year's T20 World Cup. As evident in the T20Is against first Ireland and England, India's batters are going after the bowling from the beginning. If against Ireland, Deepak Hooda scored a century, in the first and second T20Is against England, India have gotten off the blocks scoring 66 and 61 inside the Powerplay. Even the senior batters have taken up this new and highly-praised aggressive route, which could well be the difference in this and last year's T20 World Cups.
Along the way, there have been sizeable contributions. In the first T20I, Hardik Pandya scored a half-century, while Ravindra Jadeja scored a crucial 46 in the second to help India clinch the T20I series. In the third T20I, it was Suryakumar Yadav, who stepped up to the occasion and scored a brilliant century. Suryakumar hit 117 and even though his knock went in vain as England won by 17 runs, it's enough evident that India's new way is here to stay.
The emergence of players such as Suryakumar and Hooda have mounted pressure on senior, especially Virat Kohli, who continues to struggle for runs. However, former India pacer Dodda Ganesh feels the manner in which India has started batting in T20Is, it also promises to put KL Rahul under the pump. The India opener, who is currently out injured and recovering from a groin injury has faced a lot of questions regarding his strike-rate in T20 cricket, often defending it, but if Ganesh is to be believed, Rahul will have to change his approach too once he returns.
"Hooda and SKY with their intent have shown how T20 batting is done. It's time KL Rahul too pulls up his socks and bats the way he used to in 2016/17. If he continues to play the waiting game like he does in the IPL, he'll struggle to keep his place," the former India quick tweeted.
Not too long ago, while playing in the IPL, Rahul scored 616 runs from 15 matches including two centuries, captaining the Lucknow Super Giants. But the fact that those runs came at a strike rate of 135 was concerning. Rahul had once famously said that ‘strike rates are overrated' but he might just have to alter that thought of the batter is to find a place in India's current T20I setup.
