India beat South Africa within the first T20I match on the Greenfield Worldwide Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday to take a 1-0 lead within the three-match collection. It was an exceptional efficiency from the bowlers, particularly pacers, to limit opponents to simply 106/8 in 20 overs whereas bowling first. Then KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav scored unbeaten half-centuries to information India to a giant eight-wicket win with 20 balls remaining.
There have been plenty of positives to take from the primary match, most vital amongst them was the efficiency from the pacers within the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Thiruvananthapuram’s pitch proved fast and inexperienced, which helped Arshdeep Singh and Deepak Chahar to strike early. South African tempo bowlers additionally dominated the powerplay overs and dismissed star batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli early.
Individuals are simply blasting Rahul for his knock, I can not perceive why: Aakash Chopra
Rahul additionally struggled for large photographs in early overs however stood agency towards the Proteas tempo assault. He completely defended Kagiso Rabada’s first over for a maiden and was cautious together with his shot choice. He went on to attain unbeaten 51 runs off 56 balls at a strike fee of 91.07 with solely six boundaries. India received the match simply, however followers had been fuming at Rahul’s sluggish innings and criticized the opener on social media.
However former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has come to defend the participant and identified the troublesome situations. He even praised Rahul for respecting the pitch and enjoying accordingly and requested followers to chop some slack for the participant.
“Individuals are simply blasting Rahul for his knock, I can not perceive why. If you’re chasing solely 107, and the situations are troublesome, why will the batter look to hit? It’s okay to attain ugly runs as properly, it takes braveness and guts,” Aakash Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.
“Had he determined to start out hanging the ball and received out as a substitute of settling, then that will have been irresponsible. He batted rather well, for my part: revered the situations and the state of affairs and performed accordingly. So please lower him some slack,” Aakash Chopra added.
