Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra showered praise on KL Rahul after the fourth Test match between England and India ended in a draw at Old Trafford on Sunday. Rahul scored a crucial knock of 90 runs in the second innings and played a key role in the draw as he faced 230 balls.
The flamboyant batter could only add three runs to his overnight score of 87 runs on the final day before he was plumbed by England captain Ben Stokes in front of the wickets.
Rahul has been in fantastic form in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar series as he has amassed 511 runs in four Test matches at an average of 63.87. Chopra said Rahul has batted like a saint as his focus at the crease has been immaculate.
“KL Rahul is a guy who has been criticized a lot. He has scored a lot of runs in this series. He has batted like a tapasvi. He was unfortunate. The ball came in and kept low. He missed out on his century, got out on 90. At some stage, I hope he will start getting the respect that he deserves because KL Rahul is playing extremely well,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra admitted he thought India would miss their former captain Rohit Sharma at the top of the order but that hasn’t been the case.
“I was convinced that we would miss Rohit Sharma at some stage in this series because his last series here was very good, but KL Rahul at one end, and Yashasvi at the other, mostly, haven’t let us miss him. Outstanding from these two as well,” he added.
Meanwhile, the renowned commentator hailed Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder scored 107 runs to help India draw the fourth Test. Jadeja has scored 454 runs in four Test matches at an average of 113.50 in the ongoing series.
“Jadeja has grown. I got a lot of flak when I didn’t keep Ben Stokes as No. 1 among the best all-rounders in the last two years, but when I analyzed the numbers, Jaddu was the best. Even in this series, from the batting point of view, he scored four consecutive half-centuries and now this century,” he said.
The fifth and final Test match between England and India will be played at the Kennington Oval, London, from 31st July onwards.
