A young KL Rahul introduced himself to coach Jayaraj when he entered a U-13 camp in Mangalore that the Karnataka State Cricket Association had organized: "Sir, I am KL Rahul, and I'm a wicketkeeper batsman." Rahul was a decent wicket keeper back then, according to the coach, but he also had batting potential that was just waiting to be discovered. Rahul the batsman started to emerge from the wicketkeeper's shadow even though he continued to keep wickets at the age-group level.
After receiving criticism for his wicket-keeping during the ODI series against Australia in October, Rahul is once more being praised for his glove skills at the World Cup. When Melody Hasan Miraz slashed Mohammad Siraj's scrambled-seam ball down leg side in the 25th over due to the additional bounce, Rahul not only went quickly to his left but also performed a remarkable dive to scoop it up with his left hand. He yelled with glee as he stood there.
ICC posted a video of the incident on Instagram. Mohammed Siraj bowls to Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the video. The batsman from Bangladesh attempts to hit a boundary, but KL Rahul foils his attempt and takes the wicket with an outstanding catch.
According to T Dilip, the fielding coach for India, having such innate talent throughout the formative years is always beneficial. Dilip had said it earlier this year: "He contributes a lot of stuff since he is not someone who has picked up the gloves just now—he has been doing it since a younger age. Other than fine-tuning a few areas, improving his wicket-keeping abilities wasn't too tough.
There have been a few things to perfect in particular: How to keep him shuffling to his left or right while keeping his hands motionless low and to the side. He had the habit of pulling up his hands when he shuffled to the side, much like most erratic keepers do.
Second, he hesitates to run up to the stumps after a shot is played, frequently getting there a little late.
Both mistakes would occur in India's ODI series against Australia in October. He took too long to get up to the stumps, didn't catch throws, and at least once missed a run-out. The trolls jumped in with memes; images of shredded gloves with holes in the centre circulated.
Dilip and Rahul worked on a practice before the World Cup. The batsman was replaced by a massive, fat tire in front of him. On the leg side of the tire, two short, cut-to-size stumps were placed next to one another, and a bat was positioned horizontally on top of those two stumps. Rahul would slide to his left to catch the ball after Dilip had thrown it and spun it down the leg side of the tire.
The ball would occasionally bounce off the horizontal bat and deflect in an unnatural manner. Rahul still has to shuffle and gather if the ball misses the bat, which it will almost always do. He would have to adapt and try to bag the ball when the deflection occurred.
Dilip would occasionally cross the room and demonstrate to Rahul how things are done. In particular, he would draw Rahul's attention to his propensity to raise his hands during shuffle and advise him to do otherwise even as he moved sideways to his left.
Although the hands are frequently the focus of emphasis in wicketkeeping, Dilip would also focus on getting Rahul's feet moving quickly; otherwise, he would have to lunge to his left and the hands would come up too early to make up for the lack of foot movement.
Dilip, who had awarded him the gold medal that he had presented in the dressing room to the finest fielder of the day, had recognized his efforts behind the stumps even after the last ODI. "One ability that is typically overlooked.
I believe it is wicketkeeping; we anticipate performing the task, but some of the things we discussed were approaching the wicket and the stumps to collect throws. catching and doing the leg's side stump. KL Rahul was great overall, in my opinion," Dilip stated in the changing room. Virat Kohli's squeals of delight as Rahul received the medal have already gone viral, and more may be anticipated from the locker room following this match against Bangladesh.
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