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Updated October 8th, 2021 at 12:59 IST

IPL 2021: Gautam Gambhir says KL Rahul might have more ability than Rohit Sharma, Kohli

Gambhir's comment came after the 53rd match of the ongoing Indian Premier League, where the KL Rahul played a stunning 98-run knock to help PBKS defeat CSK 

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
IPL 2021, Gautam Gambhir, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, IPL, KL Rahul IPL runs, IPL playoffs, PBKS
Image: PTI | Image:self
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Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir reckons that KL Rahul is probably a better batter than Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli. Gambhir believes that Rahul has got more cricketing shots in his armoury than any other batter in India at the moment. Gambhir's comment came after the 53rd match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in the United Arab Emirates, where Rahul played a spectacular inning to help his side win. 

"If you can bat like this, why don’t you bat like this? He probably has got more ability than Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. I am not saying it just because I have seen KL Rahul doing it today, he just has it. He has got more shots than anyone else in India. And he has shown it again and especially against Josh Hazlewood because that wasn't the worst over Hazlewood has bowled, it was proper quality bowling. He was able to smash him for sixes and that just shows the quality of the batter," Gautam Gambhir told ESPNCricinfo.

Rahul scored an unbeaten 98 runs off 42 balls, including eight sixes and seven boundaries, to help Punjab Kings (PBKS) beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets and 42 balls to spare. As far as IPL 2021 is concerned, Rahul is currently on top of the leaderboard in terms of the total runs scored as he has hit 626 runs in 13 matches at an impressive average of 62.60. Rahul has been scoring at an average of more than 50 for the past four seasons in the IPL. The 29-year-old had finished as the highest run-scorer in IPL 2020 as well. 

Gambhir further said that Punjab Kings would have been in the top four of the points table had Rahul batted with similar freedom from the start of the tournament. 

CSK vs PBKS highlights

Batting first, CSK were restricted by Punjab bowlers for 134/6 in 20 overs. Faf du Plessis remained the lone warrior for the MS Dhoni-led side as he scored 76 off 55 runs before being dismissed by Mohammed Shami. MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja scored some runs towards the backend of the first innings, but their slow effort could not help CSK breach even the 140-run mark. Arshdeep Singh and Chris Jordan picked two wickets each for PBKS, while Shami and Ravi Bishnoi picked one each.

Meanwhile, Punjab Kings lost Mayank Agarwal early for 12 runs, courtesy of Shardul Thakur. However, KL Rahul, along with some brief partnerships with Aiden Markram and Shahrukh Khan, single-handedly chased down the target. Rahul's amazing 98 runs came at a time when Punjab was losing wickets at regular intervals. Rahul was adjudged the player of the match for his superb performance with the bat.  

(Image: PTI)

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Published October 8th, 2021 at 12:59 IST

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