Asia Cup 2023: Don’t think he actually realizes how good a player he is – Sunil Gavaskar heaps praise on KL Rahul

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar has showered praise on KL Rahul, stating the batter sometimes doesn’t realize how good a player he is. Rahul, who was making a comeback to the team after a long time, was able to hit the strides on his return.

The flamboyant batter scored a fine knock of 111 runs off just 106 balls in the Super Fours stage match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup. Rahul added a fine alliance of 233 runs with Virat Kohli to help India post a massive score of 356 runs on the board.

Subsequently, Rahul scored a gutsy knock of 39 runs against Sri Lanka on a challenging pitc. Rahul scored a total of 169 runs in three innings of the Asia Cup at an impressive average of 84.50 and a strike rate of 89.42.

“The most important thing was the self-belief he showed in that particular century. Often, I have always said… I have said about him way back in 2016 or 17 that he is going to be the next big thing in Indian cricket. If he hasn’t, he himself has to be blamed because I don’t think he actually realises how good a player he is,” Sunil Gavaskar said on India Today.

Gavaskar added that Rahul oozed more confidence in his approach in the Asia Cup after coming back from injury.

“Sometimes, when he is batting, when is on the field, he gives the impression that he is not very confident about himself. On the field, you want that confidence to come through. You saw that confidence in that Pakistan innings. He got to play like that every time. He does sometimes play like that in the IPL. But now to see him bat the way that he did was absolutely wonderful,” he added.

The Little Master observed that Rahul showed his fitness after a fine century against Pakistan. Rahul had to run hard between the wickets along with Virat Kohli, who is known to convert ones into twos.

“Very, very good to see him fit. We all knew what his quality is. He has proven it over such a long time. The only question mark would have been about his fitness and in that century knock against Pakistan, he showed his fitness because it was not just a question of playing a long innings, but also running between the wickets. And who are you running with? Probably the fastest runner in the game between 22 yards, Virat Kohli. He did that so well,” said Gavaskar.

Rahul also kept wickets in that game and thus he was able to prove his fitness after recovering from a thigh injury.

“And later on came and kept wickets for a major part. That 100 percent proves his fitness. He now gives so much bulk to the middle-order. He, Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya are absolutely unbelievable. This is turning out be a very, very good Indian team,” signed off Gavaskar.

Rahul will now be seen in action in the three-match ODI series against Australia.