Indian batter KL Rahul sent the fans into a nostalgic drive with a tremendous straight drive. The shot played by the 32-year-old reminded the fans of Sachin Tendulkar, who was the master of the shot. The incident happened on the third ball of the 13th over with Cummins bowling to Rahul.
Rahul pulled out the straight drive with the perfect head position as the ball sped to the boundary. The shot got huge cheers from fans who were delighted with the return to form for India’s batting star who has been in and out of the team.
"Shot of the day!"
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 23, 2024
Lovely stuff from KL Rahul #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Ewh2TKbNrJ
Earlier in the day Australia were bowled out for 104 to end the innings with a deficit of 46 runs. Jasprit Bumrah, who is leading the side in Rohit Sharma’s absence, picked 5/30 to dent the Australian batting order. Mitchell Starc’s 26 was the highest score for the home team, with Alex Carey scoring 21.
Mitchell Starc speaks about KL Rahul’s controversial decision
There was a huge controversy on the opening day of the Border Gavaskar Trophy on Friday. Rahul was given out most dubiously with the bat seemingly brushing the pad. The on-field umpire gave it not out but the third umpire asked the decision to be changed after Australia opted to use the DRS.
Speaking at the end of the day, Mitchell Starc said to the media, “It got overturned obviously, but I thought it was regulation, the sound it made, the timing of it, I thought it was just a regulation wicket."
Former Indian star Ravi Shastri, while speaking to Fox Cricket, said “My initial reaction was, was there enough evidence there for the third umpire to overrule what was given. It was not out on the field of play. Did I see enough there for me to be convinced? I didn’t see enough, to be honest.”
Michael Hussey termed the decision as controversial when he spoke to Fox Cricket. Australian legend said, “That’s controversial – there was a spike on the Snicko, but was the spike coming from the ball hitting the bat, or was it the bat hitting his pad? You can see the bat just clipping the pad, so you’ve just got to get the timing right…there’s got to be some doubt there in my mind.”