WATCH: Emotional fan runs into ground and hugs KL Rahul after India’s win over Australia in CT2025 semi finals

Under-fire Indian wicketkeeper and batter KL Rahul rose to the occasion and played a match winning knock on Tuesday. The 32-year scored 42 not out to guide India to the finals of CT25 after beating Australia by four wickets. The winning runs came when Rahul hit Glenn Maxwell for a huge six to seal the game and qualify for the finale. 

As soon as the game was done, one emotional Indian fan ran into the ground. The young fan could be seen hugging KL Rahul who reciprocated the move. Rahul’s knock was crucial because his place in the ODI side was questioned. With Rishabh Pant in the team and the inconsistency shown by Rahul behind the stumps raised lots of doubts. 

A Fan hugged KL Rahul after the Semi-Final and a beautiful gesture by Rahul as well ♥️ pic.twitter.com/qykn66XPdb

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 5, 2025

Team India were placed at 178 for the loss of four wickets and still needed 87 runs for a win from 90 balls. Rahul and Virat Kohli added 47 key runs for the fifth wicket which came in 46 balls. After the fall of Kohli, it was the 34 run stand between Pandya and Rahul that put India on the cusp of a win. 

KL Rahul opens up about his batting spot in ODI team 

Before the Men in Blue came to Dubai for Champions Trophy 2025, there were questions about KL Rahul’s batting spot. Axar Patel’s move to number five in the batting order meant that Rahul had to bat lower down the order. The move seems to have paid off with the 32-year-old providing the much needed depth for his side. 

Speaking on Star Sports, Rahul while addressing this said, "I'm quite used to going up and down the order, so I'm just happy getting a chance to play in the middle and whatever role is given, I think it's really helped me understand my game a lot more and I've had to work on boundary-hitting a lot more in the last year or so, because the last ODI we played in Sri Lanka I batted at No. 6, so I knew that's where I'll be batting and we needed a left-hander in the top order." 

KL Rahul also said, “It's since I think 2020 that I've batted at No. 5 and a lot of times people forget that that's where I've been batting. And every time I perform in a series and then there's a break from ODI series, ODI cricket, and then we come back after four or five months there's a question mark again about 'oh well, will he play in the XI, where does he fit' and sometimes I'm sitting there thinking what more can I do.”