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Former Indian left-arm seamer and 2011 Cricket World Cup winner, Zaheer Khan after seeing the mature and dependable innings of KL Rahul on Day 1 of the 1st Test against South Africa at Centurion, claimed that the Bangalore-born Wicket-Keeper batsman is inching closer to cementing his spot in the Indian Test team if he remains consistent with his batting.
Overall, for the visitors, Day 1 at Centurion was one to forget as the Indian batting line-up underwent a terrible and dramatic collapse in front of the South African pacers who were breathing fire all day long. Temba Bavuma’s decision to Bowl first after winning the toss at first was said a good toss to lose for Rohit Sharma but as the game started, all that speculation was shrugged off.
Kagiso Rabada led the South African bowling department which also had the likes of talented and aggressive pacers like Gerald Coetzee, Marco Jansen, and Nandre Burger. These were the 4 bowlers who were responsible for exposing India’s batting order as every bowler except Coetzee, picked at least one wicket.
Rabada was the first to open the proceedings for South Africa as he removed Indian Captain Rohit Sharma with a smart bouncer that Rohit pulled towards a deep fine leg which remained in the air until Nandre Burger caught it. Yashasvi Jaiswal who was playing his first-ever Red-Ball match at South Africa was sent back to the pavilion after he edged left-arm seamer Nandre Burger’s late out-swinging delivery while attempting to play a straight drive.
2 new batters – Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were on the crease by the 10th over. Everyone in the Indian camp would have expected to see a twinning between the prodigy and the run machine but Nandre Burger landed a blow once again as his leg-sided delivery was marginally gloved by Shubman Gill who was given out after a South African DRS in the 12th over’s 1st delivery.
Then Shreyas Iyer and Kohli stitched a good-looking partnership of 68 runs before Rabada knocked the stumps of Iyer with a dipping in swinger that struck the middle stump. The 28-year-old also got the important wicket of Virat Kohli with an unplayable delivery that swung marginally and took the edge for another easy catch for wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne.
As KL Rahul watched Kohli, Ashwin, Shardul and Bumrah depart, the Wicket-keeper batsman came out as the best batter for India as he scored 70 not out at the end of Day 1. His knock was also important because at some point it looked like India would not even reach the 200-run mark but thanks to Rahul’s resilience, India at the score of 208/8.
“It Will Be Tough For Rishabh Pant And KS Bharat To Replace KL Rahul”, Believes Zaheer Khan
Though Zaheer Khan was not the only one to praise KL Rahul, he did mention one very good point that when Rishabh Pant becomes fit to play International cricket, it will be tough for him to replace the Right-hand batsman. He also said the same for KS Bharat who played all the matches for India during the Border-Gavaskar trophy earlier this year.
He (KL Rahul) has shown his credentials with the bat, what will be important is how he performs with the gloves when India comes bowls. But he has a chance to cement his spot in the Test side. He has had to miss a few matches due to his injury record. He had a good World Cup and the more he plays in all formats, the better it will be for him at this stage of his career.” – Zaheer Khan said about KL Rahul.
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