Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris said that Indian batter KL Rahul will be ready to go against Pakistan; His return to the side will provide a major boost to the side as the team India eyes their eight-time Asia Cup victory.
The upcoming Asia Cup will begin on August 27 while the opening game of the tournament will be played between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The Asia Cup high-octane clash between Pakistan and India will be played on August 28 in Dubai.
The fans are eagerly waiting for the clash while all eyes will be on Babar Azam and Virat Kohli’s form. However, former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris said that Indian batter KL Rahul will be ready to go against Pakistan.
Rahul needed to bear a matter-of-fact time uninvolved after his tragic injury post-IPL 2022 preceding he got back in the game of cricket in the recently concluded ODI series in Zimbabwe.
His return to the side will provide a major boost to the side as the team India eyes their eight-time Asia Cup victory.
The last time Pakistan and India met on T20 World Cup 2021, Pakistan badly defeated India by 10 wickets.
Pakistan star pacer Shaheen Afridi has been ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury while Mohammad Hasnain has been named as the replacement for Afridi.
“First of all, with regards to KL Rahul, I wouldn’t be worried either. I’d be worried if he’d be facing 5-10 balls each innings but the last one in particular – 46 deliveries I think it was. If that’s the case, it means that time in the middle is coming and that means that he will become more and more fluent, game time in the middle? Far more valuable than the nets. So, I expect he’ll be ready to go against Pakistan,”
said Styris on Sports 18 show ‘Sports Over The Top’.
Styris figured that he is not worried about the returning batter’s form and added that the Indian opener will get more momentum and will get back to his old self in time.
“Now, for that one? I’m with you though; I think he’s going to go okay. The reason is that is no Shaheen Afridi, we know that he’s out injured, the way he attacks the stumps is the way you get KL Rahul out. LBW and bowled. The fact that the main man who exposes that weakness is not there. I think KL Rahul has got an opportunity to be the star still, that we know he is because as Saba rightly pointed out, the pedigree is there,”
he added.
Coming to the Asia Cup, the 15th edition of the tournament will be played in the UAE between six teams. The last edition of the mega event was played in an ODI format while this time the tournament will be played in the T20 format.
India squad for Asia Cup: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan