Indian opener KL Rahul faced the ire of fans after his sluggish knock against Hong Kong on Wednesday, August 31. The right-handed batter scored 36 runs off 39 balls in a Group A clash of the Asia Cup 2022 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
After being asked to bat first by Hong Kong, Team India's openers struggled in the powerplay overs. The ball was evidently holding up due to the slow nature of the surface.
With Rahul taking time by playing dot balls, the pressure kept mounting at the other end on skipper Rohit Sharma (21 off 13).
Rohit played a couple of big hits and upped the ante, but perished in the fifth over while trying to smash a six.
Rahul then took the innings forward by building a partnership with Virat Kohli. However, he failed to score runs at a brisk pace. Mohammad Ghazanfar dismissed him in the 13th over.
After witnessing Rahul's sedate knock against Hong Kong, fans took to social media platforms to troll him through memes.
Here is a collection of the best memes:
India ended up scoring 192/2 in 20 overs. Virat Kohli (59* off 44) and Suryakumar Yadav (68* off 26) upped the ante in the death overs to help India post a good total.
"I feel Virat Kohli should open in place of KL Rahul"- Parthiv Patel on Team India's opening combination in T20I cricket
Former Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel feels that Kohli should be preferred for the opening position ahead of KL Rahul. He believes this will help India attain the perfect team balance in the T20I format.
The updated list of most runs scorer in Asia Cup can be viewed here.
Parthiv thinks the move will allow the team management to play Rishabh Pant, a much-needed aggressive left-handed option in the middle order.
Speaking on Cricbuzz in this regard, Parthiv said:
"I feel Virat Kohli should open in place of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant should bat in the middle order. The team needed a left-handed batter in the middle, which is why they promoted Ravindra Jadeja. So you need that left-right combination in between."
He stated that Kohli's experience as an opener should be utilized by the Indian team. Patel said in this regard:
"Virat Kohli is most suited to opening the batting in T20s. He's got a lot of runs while opening for RCB. I firmly believe that who's coming at No.3 depends on how the openers have batted."
He added:
"KL Rahul got out first ball and then Kohli had to consolidate. But when you start from zero, you play the way you want to play and you can build your innings the way you want to."
Do you agree with Parthiv Patel's views? Should Virat Kohli open the innings with Rohit Sharma? Sound off in the comments section.
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