‘You could not have said the same thing about Rahul’: Sunil Gavaskar compares body language of Virat Kohli and KL

‘You could not have said the same thing about Rahul’: Sunil Gavaskar compares body language of Virat Kohli and KL

KL Rahul led India past Australia by five wickets in the 1st ODI on Friday.

Rahul anchored the winning partnerships of 44 with Hardik Pandya and an unbeaten 108 with Ravindra Jadeja as India chased down the target with 10.1 overs to spare.

Without run rate pressure, Rahul led with 75 not out off 91 balls.

Former India legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar expressed satisfaction with Rahul’s effort and also made a rather interesting comparison between Virat Kohli and him.

“We said earlier as well that he has the technique and temperament, but sometimes you need luck as well,” he said.

“Just like Virat Kohli, he was getting out to his first mistake, but his body language didn’t use to be like Virat Kohli’s,” he explained.

“Virat Kohli used to get out, but his body language was still different. He was confident. You could not have said the same thing about Rahul. But the way he batted today, he repaid the team management for the faith shown in him. He stayed till the end; it was not that he could do anything as he had scored a fifty,” he added.

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar said, “Whoever bats at multiple positions, it becomes a strong point for them. He has been exposed to different-different situations. I feel it was a huge advantage that India had a player at No. 5 who could play well down the order and against the new ball,” he said.

“If you have a top-order collapse, which has happened in a few important games, you have a player who can see off the new ball and then can score runs all around the park. There is no area where he cannot play a shot. He has presented a solid case for himself.”