Even though KL Rahul stayed not out on 58 in India's successful run-chase against Australia at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, he wasn't in the best of form with the gloves behind the stumps. While he messed up an easy run-out chance, he was lucky enough to be able to manage the stumping of Marnus Labuschangne after he had failed to collect the ball. The right-handed batter had in fact attempted a reverse sweep but failed to make the desired connection with the ball.
As a result, the ball hit Rahul's wicketkeeping gloves and then hit the stumps catching the Aussie star short of his crease. Labuschagne had to take the walk back to the pavilion and there was a wicket against Ravichandran Ashwin's name, in his first ODI since January 2022.
Have a look at the early video:
After India's 5-wicket win over Australia in the series opener, Rahul, who was also the stand-in captain with Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, having been rested for the first two matches, said: "It was as hot as Colombo and really humid. I think the commitment that the boys showed. We were put under pressure in the middle. We started really well with the ball. But the middle overs were tough."
"We've been talking about staying committed for 50 overs and we've all been working really hard on our fitness so that's showing. I went in in a tricky situation after keeping for 50 overs, it was tough for the middle order batters starting, but had a good partnership with Surya (Suryakumar Yadav). We kept talking about hitting good cricket shots," he added.