“Good hundreds and then there is a lull” - Sanjay Manjrekar questions KL Rahul’s consistency in Test cricket

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has questioned KL Rahul’s consistency in Test cricket despite playing nearly 50 matches in the format. Manjrekar admitted that the right-handed batter has immense talent, but pointed out that he seems to go completely off the boil for some innings after scoring hundreds.

Rahul began the Test tour of South Africa with a sublime 101 in the first innings of the Centurion Test. In the next two innings, he was dismissed for 4 and 8, respectively. The 31-year-old’s dismissal on Day 1 of the Cape Town Test marked the beginning of a batting collapse that saw India lose six wickets for 0 runs in their first innings.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar described Rahul as a unique batter who scores quality hundreds but also has a tendency to be pedestrian in several innings.

“We are talking about KL Rahul, who has Test match experience of over 40 Test matches. It’s a very unique career that he has. A very unique batter as well. No doubt about the ability - we saw in the first innings [in Centurion]. But just look at the last three hundreds that he has got at the Test level - good hundreds and then there is a lull," he said.

“The next five innings after the last three hundreds, average was 19, 21 and 24. This is a very unique case where, after getting a hundred, his form just goes down. It’s happened three or four times in his career. Hope this time it’s slightly different,” the 58-year-old continued.

Playing in his 49th Test, Rahul has scored 2,755 runs at a middling average of 33.59 with eight hundreds.

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“Shreyas Iyer needs to do the most work on his defense” - Sanjay Manjrekar

While India’s inexperienced overseas batters have struggled during the ongoing tour, Manjrekar reckons that Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal have shown some promising signs. He, however, believes that Shreyas Iyer needs to do a lot of work on his technique.

“Of the three players that we see occupying positions 1,3 and 5, I think Shreyas Iyer needs to do the most work on his defense. Poor fellow got a great delivery, but that’s what you get in Test cricket in South Africa. I wouldn’t say that they wasted the opportunity. That’s something that just beyond your control a little bit. You’ve got to be understanding because they are all learning on the job,” Manjrekar concluded.

Shreyas has registered scores of 31, 6, and 0 in his three innings of the ongoing Test series against South Africa.