Former India cricketer Maninder Singh believes KL Rahul has no place for getting complacent after a below-par outing in the third Test against England at Headingley in Leeds. After a string of good scores in the first two games, Rahul failed to put runs on the board in the third match.
After a century at Lord’s, KL Rahul was out for a duck in the first innings and then managed only eight runs in the second essay. Maninder Singh feels Rahul may have gotten a little complacent might have led to him being ultra proactive and trying to play loose shots.
Also Read: ENG vs IND 2021: Jonny Bairstow Takes A One-Handed Stunner To Dismiss KL Rahul
Bairstow plucks a blinder at second slip to dismiss KL Rahul, at the stroke of lunch.
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Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Maninder Singh said:
“It can happen to anybody after you had a couple of great Test matches. The way he got out in the first innings started to create doubts in his mind that ‘am I good enough to bat on this kind of surfaces where the ball is seaming around and swinging.”
“As far as KL Rahul is concerned, it is a lesson for him that when he is in form, he has to carry it on and not get complacent like he did from the first innings because you start doubting your technique,” he added.
KL Rahul looked in trouble among the two Indian openers: Steve Harmison
Indian openers to face 100+ balls in a Test innings in England most times :
13 – Sunil Gavaskar
4* – Rohit Sharma
3 – Chetan Chauhan, Ravi Shastri, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, KL RahulRohit's 4 instances have come in the last 6 innings of this series.#ENGvIND
— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) August 27, 2021
Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison felt KL Rahul was searching for runs and there was tremendous self-doubt in the way he was playing.
“KL Rahul looked as though he was having more trouble out of the two openers. He looked as though he didn’t know how he was going to score. He got into a rut,” Harmison added.