Asia Cup 2023: KL Rahul-Ishan Kishan keep wickets in turn during super 4 fixture against Pakistan

The Pakistan vs India Super 4 match in Asia Cup 2023 finally resumed on Monday, September 11, the reserve day for the game, after rain halted the proceedings on Sunday. India resumed their innings on 147/2 after 24.1 overs and posted a mammoth score of 356/2 in their allotted 50 overs courtesy of hundreds from Virat Kohli (122* off 94) and KL Rahul (111* off 106).

Rahul impressed everyone on his comeback with his stupendous hundred and was even spotted donning the wicketkeeping gloves from the seventh over onwards. Notably, Ishan Kishan had started the innings as India’s wicketkeeper and kept the wickets till the sixth over before handing over the responsibility to Rahul. The 31-year-old went through wicketkeeping drills ahead of the fixture and was deemed fit to keep the wickets.

Hence, he was given some much-needed exposure of donning the gloves in a high-pressure game ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023 scheduled to begin from October 05 in India. Further ahead in the game, Rahul took the catch of Mohammed Rizwan in the 12^th over to give Pakistan their third blow. 

Notably, Rahul’s place had come under question after Ishan Kishan’s meteoric rise in ODI cricket. The southpaw registered the fastest double hundred (126 balls) in ODI cricket in December 2022 vs Bangladesh in Chattogram. Furthermore, Kishan recently won the Player of the series in the three-match series against West Indies where he scored half century in every game.

Rahul will look to continue his good form against Sri Lanka

He also played a magnificent knock of 82 (81) in Rahul’s absence during group stage game of the ongoing Asia Cup vs Pakistan. Hence, Kishan had sealed his place in the team with the other spot left for either of Shreyas Iyer or KL Rahul in the middle order.

However, Rahul put all questions on his form to rest with a splendid hundred against the arch-rivals. The wicketkeeper batter will be eager to emulate his performance in India’s next game vs Sri Lanka on Tuesday, September 12 at the same venue.