KL Rahul's endured back-to-back failures with the bat as he was dismissed cheaply against the inexperienced Netherlands during India's second match of the T20 World Cup on Thursday. Rahul got off the mark with a four but was then out LBW after scoring just 9 runs off 12 balls to Paul van Meekeren in the fourth delivery of third over. After Rahul's dismissal, captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli stitched a 73-run partnership and even though the Indian captain was dismissed for a well-compiled half century, the of Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav took India to 179/2 in 20 overs.
However, Rahul's dismissal became a bit of a talking point. After his LBW dismissal, the TV replays showed that the ball would have missed the stumps. Interestingly, Rahul asked Rohit about reviewing his wicket, but despite his captain's insistence, the batter decided not to and walked back. The decision was questioned by social media users, who took shots at Rahul for his low scores in the marquee tournament thus far and not going upstairs. Here are some of the reactions
"KL Rahul knew he was Not out, yet he played a double bluff and trolled all his haters by not scoring against Netherlands as well. Hats off," wrote one twitter user.
"What has KL Rahul done to get same match fees as Smriti Mandhana," another user took a dig at him.
{{/usCountry}}"What has KL Rahul done to get same match fees as Smriti Mandhana," another user took a dig at him.
{{/usCountry}}Another Twitter user backed explosive wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant to play for India in place of Rahul.
"I speak for every cricket fan when I say Rishabh Pant will perform much much better than choker Paytm bully KL Rahul especially in big matches," tweeted the cricket fan.
One twitter user wrote, "They didn't even take risk of losing a review. Surely, they would have gone for a review if it was Kohli or SKY instead of Rahul. At this point, I am just pondering why is KL Rahul even in the team??"
Tim Pringle (20) was the highest scorer for Netherlands in the innings, as Ravichandran Ashwin (2/21), Axar Patel (2/18), and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/9) shone with the ball. It was a much-needed outing for Axar who had given away 21 runs in the only over he bowled against Pakistan on Sunday.
Arshdeep Singh, too, continued on his impressive performance as he picked two successive wickets in the 18th over of the game, eventually registering figures of 2/33 in his four overs. With the win, India have now reached the top of the table with four points in two matches; South Africa follow them with three points after their second match of the group was washed out. Rohit's men will take on the Proteas in their next match of the tournament on October 30.