An often-fragile health, a propensity to begin sluggish in T20s and so on made him a straightforward goal of the troll gangs.
For a lot of, his failure was pre-destined however his contribution to India’s semifinal entry, in entrance and behind the stumps, within the showpiece has reworked the narrative round him.
Whereas coming at No. 5, Rahul’s function as a batsman is just not straightforward – he both has only a few overs to make an impression after a top-order mayhem or he has to consolidate after a top-order malfunction.
The Bengaluru man needed to do each the roles within the World Cup and excelled in them too, bringing in that much-needed stability within the middle-order.
It’s all the extra necessary as a result of India not have the luxurious of all-rounder Hardik Pandya coming in at No. 6.
India vs Netherlands WC: India crush Netherlands by 160 runs
Listed here are some samples of Rahul’s work. At Chennai towards Australia, Rahul got here to the crease when India have been two for 3 after the departure of Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer.
He repaired the tattered innings within the firm of Virat Kohli (85) whereas making an unbeaten 97 for himself off 115 balls.
He confronted an analogous state of affairs towards England at Lucknow whereas coming in at 40 for 3 and stabilised the innings whereas scoring 39 off 58 balls and shared a 91-run partnership with captain Rohit Sharma.
Rahul was left with the job of steering the ship to the port towards Bangladesh after the top-order fired in unison whereas chasing 257, and he remained unbeaten on 34.
The match towards the Netherlands on Sunday, maybe, was the primary time Rahul acquired an opportunity to precise himself with none riders hooked up.
He exploited it brilliantly, hammering a 64-ball 102 to T-bone Netherlands, a knock laced with pictures extra glittering than Diwali fireworks. Test that swat-flick six off pacer Paul van Meekeren.
After all, the Dutch assault was restricted and the pitch on the Chinnaswamy Stadium was not the hardest one round, however the alacrity Rahul confirmed to grab a chance in entrance of him was pleasant.
He now has 347 runs averaging 69.40 and at a strike-rate of 93.53, and that’s fairly valuable for his place.
Former Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik, himself conversant in the challenges of batting within the middle-order, summed up the importance of Rahul’s presence at No. 5.
“If India loses two or three wickets early, he’s somebody who can play in response to the state of affairs. He can end the match, can improvise, and may play with a very good strike-rate. He’s good towards spinners in addition to the pacers. He picks the gaps and performs the sector,” stated Malik.
Samuel Jayaraj, Rahul’s childhood coach, is just not one bit stunned.
“Everybody is aware of his talent stage as a batsman. However what usually individuals don’t see is his psychological readability. Throw him into any state of affairs, he can deal with it. He has been that means from his formative days.
“It doesn’t matter for him – the place he bats, whom he bats with, the opposition, all he sees is conditions. He reacts to them properly and that mindset makes him such a harmful participant. I can let you know the workforce won’t lose a match till Rahul is on the market,” stated Jayaraj.
It makes whole sense when one checks this piece of astounding stat. Within the lengthy historical past of ODIs, Rahul is amongst solely 4 batsmen who’ve scored greater than 1000 runs whereas taking part in at No.5 and No. 4 at an over-50 common.
He now has 1635 runs collectively in these two slots averaging 56.37 and hanging at 94.18. Different three batters on this record are: AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, and Rassie van der Dussen. It’s a effective membership to have a membership too!
Alongside together with his batting, the workforce administration is perhaps feeling happy with the best way Rahul saved wickets on this match.
He has seldom made a flawed transfer behind the stumps, at all times in place to seize an providing. When Kohli got here to bowl towards Netherlands, it appeared Rohit’s ploy to present a break to his frontline bowlers.
However Rahul’s presence of thoughts gifted Kohli an ODI wicket after 9 years. Dutch skipper Scott Edwards, himself a stumper, tried to glide a supply on his legs behind the keeper for a attainable single.
However Rahul sniffed that transfer and he was in place for assortment even earlier than Edwards’ bat met the ball.
India’s fielding coach T Dilip was happy to see Rahul’s efforts behind the stumps, whereas delving deep into it.
“It has been really superb wicket protecting he is been doing. He got here from an extended damage layoff and that was a extremely difficult issue as to how he would sustain the wicket-keeping talent.
“However I am fairly blissful the best way he’s shifting laterally. And for his peak, you possibly can see that the low catches which he has been taking (leaning) ahead are excellent,” stated Dilip.
It has proven in his numbers too. From 9 matches, Rahul now has 12 dismissals – 11 catches and 1 stumping – and he’s third on the chart behind Quinton de Kock (19) and Edwards (15).
India head coach Rahul Dravid was fairly assertive when he stated to not decide middle-over batsmen by way of sheer numbers.
However Dravid won’t be complaining both that Rahul has numbers to indicate.
