World Cup 2019: KL Rahul gets trapped by Trent Boult; hits the ball with his leg

India has reached the UK with eyes on their third World Cup title but going by their first game in the host nation, the fans will not be feeling too ecstatic. India came up with a very poor batting performance against New Zealand at the Kennington Oval as they were bowled out for 179 inside 40 overs and lost the game by 6 wickets with 77 balls to spare. The Men in Blue’s much-vaunted batting order failed miserably and it was a brisk fifty from Ravindra Jadeja which saw them crossing 150.

India lost both their heavyweight openers – Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan – with just 10 on board. Both the batsmen managed to score two runs and were picked up by veteran left-arm Kiwi pacer Trent Boult. The 29-year-old bowler did not have enough games for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League this year, thanks to the presence of Kagiso Rabada, and made full use of the opportunity to received with the ball ahead of the World Cup starting May 30. He finished with 4 for 33 in 6.2 overs.

Rahul had an opportunity to settle India’s No.4 conundrum

Boult, who had finished as the joint highest wicket-taker (22) in the 2015 World Cup with Australia’s Mitchell Starc, opened the bowling with his old partner Tim Southee after Kohli won the toss and elected to bat. After picking the two openers, Boult castled KL Rahul for just six to leave India reeling at 24 for 3 in the sixth over.

Rahul’s dismissal was particularly disappointing since the batsman has made it to the World Cup squad after going through a roller-coaster ride. Many consider him lucky to have made it despite not scoring enough in international cricket and the 27-year-old batsman would also know that and make the most of the mega opportunity he has received.

Rahul played a defensive shot against Trent but in the process, dragged the ball onto his stumps and his follow-through gesture of lightly kicking the ball made it evident that he was not happy with his mode of dismissal. He has now seen him getting out in that fashion several times. Rahul was tried at the crucial No.4 position, particularly after Vijay Shankar and Kedar Jadhav sustained injuries but the batsman clearly failed to impress in the first warm-up game.

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