Legendary opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar has called KL Rahul the ‘next big thing’ in Indian cricket after his rollicking display during the side’s eight-wicket win over England in the first T20 at Manchester.
Rahul struck an unbeaten 54-ball 101 to blow the hosts away and Gavaskar could not stop gushing about the batsman’s performance in his column for the Times of India.
The 68-year-old praised Rahul and wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav who picked up a maiden five-wicket haul to trigger an England collapse.
“What they didn’t anticipate was the magic of Kuldeep Yadav, who quite literally had the English batsmen like puppets on a string. The deliveries with which he drew Bairstow and Joe Root forward, playing for the wrong turn, brought a hearty laugh from those who know of English batsmen’s struggles against wrist spin,” Gavaskar wrote in his column.
Gavaskar also praised Kuldeep’s display.
“Chahal (Yuzvendra) perhaps wasn’t able to grip the new ball and so wasn’t at his best but Kuldeep, brought in when Buttler (Jos) was rampaging, changed the game in a jiffy. It was magical,” Gavaskar added.
“Then came a mini-masterpiece from the bat of someone who is going to be the next big thing in Indian cricket. Right from his debut when he squared up against Mitchell Johnson on the last tour of Australia, KL Rahul has looked a class apart. The ease with which he tore into the English bowling was breathtaking and even had the Indian skipper clapping,” the legend wrote about Rahul’s innings.
India will be hoping Kuldeep and Rahul can repeat their heroics when the men in blue take on England in the second of the three T20s at Cardiff on Friday.