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Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has urged batter KL Rahul to identify the cricketing potential that he has been gifted with. According to Shastri, the Karnataka cricketer will be a different player the day he realizes what he can achieve with his talent.
While he is highly rated, Rahul has been one of the most inconsistent players in the Indian Test team over the last decade. Having made his red-ball debut in 2014, the 32-year-old has featured in 51 matches, scoring 2,901 runs at an underwhelming average of 34, with eight hundreds to his name.
The elegant right-handed batter was dismissed for 16 in the first innings of the first Test against Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and followed it up with an unbeaten 22* in the second essay.
During Rahul's knock in the second innings at Chepauk on Saturday, September 21, Shastri shared his thoughts on the gifted, but exasperatingly inconsistent batter. Speaking on air, he opined:
"He has to realize that he has got that much of talent. The day he realizes that and comes out with a mindset thinking in that fashion, he will be a different player. But, if he allows the doubting Thomases to creep in then every now and then, it will take a while."
Rahul struck four fours in his 19-ball knock on Saturday, adding an unbroken 53 for the fifth wicket with Shubman Gill (119* off 176) before India declared their second innings on 287-4, setting Bangladesh a mammoth target of 515.
A glance at KL Rahul's Test numbers
As mentioned earlier, Rahul has scored over 2,900 runs in his Test career. The 32-year-old has played 18 Test matches at home in which he has scored 1,069 runs at an average of 41.11, with one hundred and nine fifties.
Rather incredibly, seven of his eight Test centuries have come away from home - two in England, two in South Africa and one each in Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies. However, his overall Test record away from home is again mediocre. In 33 matches, he has scored 1,832 runs at an average of 31.05, with five half-centuries apart from his seven tons.
