Former Indian opener and commentator Aakash Chopra has reckoned that India missed KL Rahul in the fourth ODI against New Zealand as the visitors suffered a 244-run defeat on Friday, November 13.
Speaking on Cricinfo, Chopra sounded confident in Rahul adapting to challenging conditions. Interestingly, in the 334-run chase, India got bundled out for 89 runs in 26.4 overs, losing the game by a whopping 244-run margin. Further, he reckoned that Shubman Gill is another batter, who would have been at the non-striker’s end.
“In all likelihood, Shubman Gill, if he had not taken strike, he would have been at the non-striker’s end and the three batters would have been dismissed. But KL Rahul is one guy who would have kept India alive and our hopes alive, because he’s not someone who gets dismissed that cheaply. In one of the previous games, Axar came ahead of him, but he was the guy who took India to victory,” Chopra said.
In the fourth ODI, India, led by stand-in captain Shreyas Iyer, included the veteran wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI. However, Kuldeep returned with the figures of 0/73 in eight overs. Chopra noted that he was a bit rusty as it was his first game on the New Zealand tour, adding that Will Young was reading him perfectly.
“No matter how good a bowler you are, the fact is, if you don’t play cricket, sometimes you will be rusty. And this is his first game on this entire tour. He’s almost like on a tourist visa to New Zealand, enjoying the other locales. But first time that he’s thrown into the mix, there was Will Young who was reading him like the back of his hand,” he added.
