Former players Sunil Gavaskar and Matthew Hayden have heaped massive praise on KL Rahul for his performance in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 20924-25. He has been the most outstanding batter for India National Cricket Team, and no one is near to him. The visiting team could have been bowled out for 100 runs had Rahul not played a knock of 84 runs in India’s first innings of the third Test at the Gabba.

He didn’t allow the Australian bowlers to settle down and kept leaving the balls that were intentionally pitched wide outside the off stump. Although he was lucky as Steve Smith dropped his regulation catch on the first delivery on Day 4, the right-handed batter didn’t give a chance before Steve Smith took his stunning catch in the slip cordon.

Hayden compared him with Kane Williamson. “He is in the league of Kane Williamson technique wise. He batted beautifully despite facing several channels from the Aussie bowlers and frustrating rain breaks. I think there were six rain breaks with KL Rahul in the middle. You need concentration as you have to start from scratch after every break, and Rahul displayed the quality of a top batter,” Matthew Hayden said on Star Sports.

Gavaskar was surprised that his average is not touching the 40-45 mark in Test cricket. “He is a class player and has shown an appetite for runs. He should be averaging 40-45 in Test cricket, and I am surprised that he is around 35 at the moment. Rahul was assured of his off-stump and played accordingly,” he said.

Inia avoided the follow on due to the effort of Ravindra Jadeja, Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah. Jadeja scored 77 runs, while Akash was unbeaten on 27 runs, along with Bumrah (10 not out). India finished the day on 252/9 in reply to Australia’s total of 445.