In the first ODI, India’s KL Rahul was the star with the bat for India as he smashed 75 runs against Australia and helped India win the match by five wickets. He anchored a few match inning stands of 44 with Hardik Pandya and 108 with Ravindra Jadeja and guided India to chase down the total with 10.1 overs to spare. Cricketer turned commentator Sunil Gavaskar was gratified with KL Rahul’s performance. He also compared KL Rahul to Virat Kohli.
“We said earlier as well that he has the technique and temperament, but sometimes you need luck as well,” he said.
“Just like Virat Kohli, he was getting out to his first mistake, but his body language didn’t use to be like Virat Kohli’s,” he explained.
“Virat Kohli used to get out, but his body language was still different. He was confident. You could not have said the same thing about Rahul. But the way he batted today, he repaid the team management for the faith shown in him. He stayed till the end; it was not that he could do anything as he had scored a fifty,” he added.
Talking about the first ODI in detail, the Men In Blue won the match by five wickets and are 1-0 up in the series. Australia batted first and scored 188 runs. Mitchell Marsh was the star with the bat for the visitors as he scored 65-ball 81. In reply, India chased down a total of 189 runs easily with the help of KL Rahul’s half-century and a crucial stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who also scored unbeaten 45 runs.
“Saw three wickets fall down early, Starc was swinging the ball well and when he brings the ball back in, he is a dangerous bowler. Just tried to play normal cricketing shots. Got a few boundaries away and that settled my nerves. I batted with Shubman, Hardik, and Jadeja. The talk was that there’s help on the wicket but we did not want to get into our shell and play out a certain bowler. We wanted to be positive and put the loose balls away. If we are good with out footwork, we could do well and it was fun batting with Jadeja,” KL Rahul said after the match.