Another day, another disappointing out for KL Rahul in the T20 World Cup. The opening batter scored just 9 runs of 12 balls before he received the marching orders after Netherlands pacer Paul van Meekeren trapped him LBW in front of the stumps. Rahul even contemplated taking a review but skipper Rohit Sharma, who was at the non-striker's end, advised him against doing so. Seeing Rahul depart for cheap, having seen him falte against Pakistan as well, fans flooded social media with jokes and memes.
Rahul has been subjected to criticism for a long time now. Sometimes because of his form, on other occasions because of his early dismissals, the Karnataka lad has been in the line of fire regularly.
After he failed to give India a strong start against Pakistan, there were high expectations for him to fire against minnows Netherlands. But, Rahul faltered yet again, leaving fans with no option but to troll him. Here are some reactions:
Later, replays showed that the ball was missing the leg-stump. Had Rahul and Rohit agreed to take a review, the former would've stayed on the crease longer.
Earlier at the toss, India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that no change has been made in the playing XI from the team that played against Pakistan on Sunday.
"We are going to bat first. Yeah, morale is really high. Winning a game like that takes your confidence to the next level but at the same time we understand we need to stay calm, just the first game of the tournament and plenty of things to happen. We have to calm ourselves and look forward to this game. We want to keep improving no matter what the results are, it always keeps you in good stead when you are thinking like that. It is important for us to keep ticking those boxes. Touch slower I guess from what we played in Melbourne. The pitch has been used for 40 overs so I expect it is going to be slightly slower. We are used to playing on such tracks. We are playing the same team," he said.
The match against the Netherlands is seen as a big opportunity to for the Indian team to correct its flaws ahead of the big contest against South Africa.