Former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin analyses KL Rahul's batting struggle

Former India skipper Mohammed Azharuddin has analysed KL Rahul’s batting woes and explained the reason behind the Karnataka-born’s inability to score runs in the last few months. He has said that Rahul must put in efforts and work on his technical flaws by consulting the coaches of the national team.

While Rahul did score a couple of half-centuries in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022, he failed to make it matter in the big encounters against Pakistan and South Africa where India faced an early top-order setback. Rahul also could not make any impact in the semis against the eventual champions England.

I think Rahul is getting out in a lot of manners: Mohammed Azharuddin

"I think consistency is the problem in KL Rahul's case. But I think there are coaches who should rectify his flaws. In my opinion, he is a good player but consistency is missing in his game," Azharuddin was quoted as saying by rediff.com.

"I think Rahul is getting out in a lot of manners. Primarily, it is not the good balls that are getting him out. It is poor shot selection first up that is causing problems," he added.

Despite his failures, the 30-year-old has been backed by the national selectors and the team management. While he was not included in the recently-concluded home T20Is against Sri Lanka, the Karnataka cricketer seems to be in India’s long-term plans with an eye on the ODI World Cup to be played at home this year.

Nonetheless, Rahul who had got good starts in India’s last two ODIs failed to convert them into big scores. KL Rahul could only manage a painstaking eight runs off 10 deliveries in the third ODI against Bangladesh last month that saw Ishan Kishan (210) and Virat Kohli (113) make merry on a good  batting wicket.

Even in the last game against Sri Lanka in Guwahati, Rahul failed to make his bat do the talking as he lost his wicket when it was time to accelerate in the final 10 overs. He went back for a 29-ball 39.

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