Ravi Shastri calls KL Rahul the 'most improved player' in the last 12 months
India’s KL Rahul has found praise coming his way from former Team Director of the Indian cricket team Ravi Shastri, who has called him the ‘most improved player’ across formats.
The 54-year-old felt that the right-hander was a fine player in all three formats and had a bright future ahead of him.
"KL Rahul is the most improved player in the world in last one year. He is not only good in Test cricket, but in other two formats. He has a great future ahead of him," the former all-rounder told the Times of India.
Shastri added that Rahul would improve naturally from here and added that he was certain to do well for India.
Rahul made his international debut for India in Australia in 2014, when Shastri was at the helm with the Men in Blue and after a poor start to his international career at Melbourne, showed the world his true potential at Sydney with a lovely 110.
After showing that he had it in him to play in the longer format of the game, he also showed glimpses of his abilities in the shorter format, starting with this year’s Indian Premier League(IPL), where he made 397 runs in 16 matches, which earned him a berth into India’s limited-overs tour to Zimbabwe.
He made an immediate impression in that series, scoring a hundred on his ODI debut and last week, showed he had what it takes to succeed in T20Is as well for the Men in Blue, smashing a century albeit in a losing cause against the West Indies in Florida.
In an another interview with the Times of India, Rahul admitted that the overseas series during the early part of his career toughened him as a cricketer and his success over there made him a much more confident player.
“Thankfully I got to play abroad before I played in India. In Australia, a lot of batsmen have struggled in those conditions and Sri Lanka is not the easiest of places to play. It is tough because you haven't played in those conditions and at that level before. You start doubting yourself and feel you don't belong there. Sometimes you have no answers to a few balls bowled at you. But those situations teach you a lot. To overcome that and get whatever runs I have got gives me so much confidence. In fact, much more than what I would have got playing six Tests in India and scoring five centuries.The overseas tours have made me a stronger individual and I'm glad it happened early in my career,” he said.