KL Rahul has scored back to back ducks in the last two T20Is against England. In the process, he has created an unwanted record and with a few other of his Indian teammates featuring in the list. India scored 156/6 on the back of skipper Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 77 off 46 balls. This was his second straight fifty-plus score after a duck in the first game.
KL Rahul was dismissed by Mark Wood on a duck in the third over of the Indian innings. He was beaten by Wood’s sheer pace as the ball went through his defences before he was able to bring the bat down.
With his second successive duck in the ongoing series, Rahul equalled the unwanted record of most ducks by an Indian in a T20I series/tournament. Ashish Nehra had bagged two ducks in the ICC T20 World Cup while Ambati Rayudu got out twice on 0 in the T20I series against South Africa in 2015.
KL Rahul’s Unwanted Record
Rahul also now sits on the top of the list of most ducks by Indian openers in T20Is with a total of 4 dismissals on 0s. He is followed on the list by Rohit Sharma (4), Gautam Gambhir (2), and Ajinkya Rahane (2).
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KL Rahul was given a third game despite two low scores with the opener being backed the management to come good. Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra also backed the talented player to come good dismissing questions regarding him being benched for this game.
“If we start asking questions about a runaway match-winner after just two low-scores, we aren’t going to build a team that’ll win the World Cup. If it’s Rahul today, it’ll be Ishan tomorrow…Pant day after. And then…will have a team of insecure players,” Chopra wrote in a tweet.
If we start asking questions about a runaway match-winner after just two low-scores, we aren’t going to build a team that’ll win the World Cup. If it’s Rahul today, it’ll be Ishan tomorrow…Pant day after. And then…will have a team of insecure players. IMHO. https://t.co/W369A0jxxb
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 15, 2021
Rahul has had six fifty-plus scored before his string of low scores in the England series. He scored 404 runs in T20I cricket last year with four fifty-plus scores. He scores 324 runs from 13 games in 2018, 356 runs in just nine games in 2019.
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KL Rahul in last 3 T20I innings:
0, 1, 0
His scores in 10 innings prior to the failure:
30, 51, 45, 39, 27, 57*, 56, 54, 45, 91
He lacks match practice & dropping him will take away exactly that from him.
Either way, Kohli & team management will be criticised.#INDvsENG
— Kaustubh Mayekar (@CatchPakad) March 16, 2021