KL Rahul "Had Run Out Of Ideas" During India's Loss To South Africa In 1st ODI, Says Sunil Gavaskar

KL Rahul seemed to have "run out of ideas" during the 204-run partnership between South Africa captain Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen in India's 31-run loss in Paarl in the 1st ODI on Wednesday, according to cricket great Sunil Gavaskar. Bavuma was joined by van der Dussen at the crease with South Africa struggling at 68/3. The duo added 204 runs for the fourth wicket to help the Proteas reach a commanding total of 296/4. In response, India could only manage 265/8. The visitors will look to bounce back and level the three-match series in the second ODI on Friday.

"Well, when there is a partnership, sometimes the captain goes out of ideas. I think that is what happened. This was a very good pitch to bat on. The ball was coming onto the bat quite nicely, you can play through the line," Gavaskar told Sports Today.

Rahul is captaining India in the ODI series in South Africa in the absence of the injured Rohit Sharma.

"During that partnership, it did look as if he had run out of ideas. KL Rahul didn't know where to go. When you have your two-most experienced death-overs bowlers in (Jasprit) Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar (Kumar), you have to keep them for the last 5-6 overs. So that's where you can actually stop the opposition from running away with a big score," added the former India captain.

"But, these are early days of his captaincy and maybe things will turn around, let's hope for Indian cricket's sake that things turn around in the next couple of days."

Gavaskar also heaped praise on Shikhar Dhawan, who played a knock of 79 on Wednesday. "As far as Shikhar Dhawan is concerned, he has been scoring runs in the 50-over format, not so much in T20s. So as long as the man is scoring runs, everything else should be put in the background. You should not going to talk about his age and all that. I don't see why there should be any talk about it," said Gavaskar.

Topics mentioned in this article

South Africa vs India 2021/22 India Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team Sunil Gavaskar KL Rahul Temba Bavuma Rassie van der Dussen Cricket