ENG vs IND: KL Rahul is at his prime, says former India head coach Shastri

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri on Saturday said that KL Rahul is at the peak of his career and that a minor change in batting technique has helped him in England.

“What I am seeing is a slight adjustment he’s made with his front foot, in his stance and while defending,” Shastri said on the ICC Review.

“It just opened up a bit, which allows his back to come through cleanly. Even when he’s hitting it towards mid-wicket, it’s the full face of the blade. He doesn’t need to close the face of the blade, and fall over and get into trouble like he used to in the past. He would get out leg before, would get out bowled, he would get across too far and then be out leg before as well,” he added.

Rahul has struck two centuries in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, and has scored 375 runs in the three games so far.

“He is sound technically, he has been as good as anyone. It’s not moved a lot in the series, but when it’s moved, he has had the game to look after that movement,” Shastri said.

Rahul has had to switch places in the batting order over his career. Despite making his debut over a decade back, Rahul had just eight Test hundreds and an average below 40, underwhelming in comparison to the lofty expectations from him.

But Shastri backed the Karnataka batter to carry his purple patch forward and improve his record.

“I think there was not one person in the world who denied his potential and said that he [Rahul] was not talented. What annoyed people was, with that kind of talent, he was not delivering. And in this series, you’re seeing the best of Rahul.

“He’s at his prime. He has got to make these next three, four years count. And I see him getting a lot of hundreds because he’s playing a lot of cricket in India as well. So whatever that average is, he should be close to 50,” Shastri said.