Anil Kumble deciphers KL Rahul's problem in T20Is for India: 'In IPL it was different..'

Former India cricketer Anil Kumble has backed KL Rahul to come good with the bat at the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. Kumble, while speaking to ESPNcricinfo, said Rahul just needs to switch on and no conversation with anyone can change anything. Kumble said that it is all about Rahul feeling confident about his game. Kumble has worked with Rahul for two years at the Indian Premier League franchise Punjab Kings, where he was the head coach and the latter was the captain. 

"In the IPL it was a different conversation. All of us kept saying, look, you are the best player. Just go out and bat normally. From ball one, go hard, and do what you are good at. Especially in the powerplay, I don't think any bowler can keep him quiet. But I think when he played franchise cricket, he felt that he needed to bat longer because of the lineup he had and he was captain. You can say what you want from the outside but you can't control what happens on the field," Kumble said. 

"With the Indian team, it is quite different. I think his role is to just go out there and bat. When I was coach, I didn't want that to change, I just wanted him to go and be what he is, dictate terms from ball one. I think he sort of switches on and switches off for whatever reason. We saw in his last game for Punjab against Chennai where we had to get those runs and have a crack at the net run rate, we saw what he can do. He just smashed everyone and Chennai had some good international bowlers," he added. 

"So it is just a matter of Rahul switching on. It is not about any conversation any of us can have, it is just about him feeling that today is when I will start hitting shots or be tentative. We don't know," Kumble concluded. 

Rahul's performance in recent T20Is

Rahul has not been in the best of forms ever since he returned to the national setup from an injury. Rahul has failed to score runs at the top of the order, garnering a lot of criticism from various corners. As far as his ongoing T20 World Cup campaign is concerned, Rahul has played two matches for India and has scored just 13 runs. In the first game against Pakistan, Rahul was dismissed for 4 off 8 balls. In the second game against the Netherlands, the right-handed batter was removed for 9 off 12 balls. 

However, Rahul did have a couple of good games before coming into the main event of the T20 World Cup. he scored two back-to-back half-centuries for India in their practice games against Australia and Western Australia XI. Before that, Rahul scored two consecutive fifties against South Africa in a bilateral T20I series. He also scored a half-century against Australia when they met in September for a three-match T20I series.

Image: IPL