CWC 2023: An unsung hero in India’s charge to WC final, KL Rahul has most runs against Australia this year

Along with the skipper Rohit Sharma, whose swashbuckling start in the ongoing edition of the ODI World Cup has been overshadowed by the batting brilliance of India ‘milestone man’ Virat Kohli and the middle-order bulwark Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, who has also keeping wickets. in the tournament, he was the unsung hero for the hosts leading them to the final.

Unbeaten India will take on five-time world champions Australia in the ODI World Cup final at cricket’s biggest arena – the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad – on Sunday.

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The ‘Men in Blue’ entered the finals after a 70-run win over New Zealand on Wednesday. After an explosive start by Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer scored a ton each to put India on the road to a huge target.

India’s keeper batsman KL Rahul then came in to apply the finishing touches to power India to a score of 397/4. With New Zealand seemingly leading the charge, India’s pace hero Mohammed Shami hit a guess in the later overs to take the wind out of the Kiwi sails and finish with seven wickets, the most by any Indian in ODI World Cup history.

In one piece of statistics that puts Rahul in focus ahead of the title show between the two cricket giants on Sunday, the lanky Bengaluru batsman has the most runs against Australia in seven innings across formats this year, at 349.The 31 -year–. scores of 75*, 9, 32, 58*, 52, 26, and 97* per team led by Pat Cummins this year at an average of 87.25. , Rahul top-scored for India with 97 off 115 balls, lifting Team India from a precarious position to victory in the company of Virat Kohli at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

In the ongoing tournament, Rahul has scored 386 runs with a strike rate of 98.72 over nine overs. Although he narrowly missed out on a century in Chennai, Rahul made some impressive performances at the back to help the hosts post some high scores in the tournament.

Rahul was injured in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on May 1, which ruled him out of international cricket for a long time.

And if the World Cup was his quest for redemption, it won’t be wrong to say that he came out with flying colours. (ANI)