Twitter Reactions: KL Rahul smacks his 4th ODI century at Bay Oval after India collapse

Rahul scored 112 runs before getting out in the 47th over of the innings.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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KL Rahul
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KL Rahul. (Photo Source: Twitter)

India and New Zealand locked horns on Tuesday for one final time in the limited-overs format on this tour. The visitors needed to put up a good total on the board after losing the toss to avoid the ignominy of the whitewash. And once again, like he has done throughout the tour, KL Rahul held the Indian innings together after coming out to bat at five. He also smacked a scintillating century in the process after missing out on the previous two occasions.

The rookie opening duo of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal once again couldn’t get the team off to a good start. The latter got out early in the second over after which Virat Kohli’s poor run of form continued in the series. Shaw and Shreyas Iyer then built the innings with a decent partnership. But the former’s poor judgement led to him being run-out which left India reeling at 62/3 in the 13th over.

This is where KL Rahul came to the team’s rescue and looked in good touch right from the word go. He played the situation perfectly not going after the bowling and concentrated on rotating the strike. Even Iyer was in his elements on the day and the duo kept the scoreboard ticking.

KL Rahul took over after Iyer got out

Rather KL Rahul played second fiddle to his partner during the 100-run partnership for the third wicket. However, once Shreyas Iyer got out in the 31st over, the Karnataka lad decided to take control of the innings. Manish Pandey joined hands with him and made sure that the run-rate didn’t dip after Iyer’s dismissal. After getting to a half-century off 60-odd deliveries, Rahul upped the ante not only by hitting the boundaries.

He also ran doubles by playing the ball with soft hands in the vacant areas of the field. Whenever the Kiwi bowlers tried to build the pressure with the dot balls, the duo of Rahul and Pandey ran well between the wickets and also churned out boundaries in the need of the hour.

Rahul had missed out on his century on two occasions previously batting at five, one against Australia and other in the first ODI against New Zealand. But this time he was absolutely determined to get to the three-figure mark and got there in the 45th over of the innings. Unfortunately, for India, KL Rahul got out on 112 in the 47th over in an attempt to up the scoring rate but it might well go down as one of the best knocks he’s played in his career.

This is also the first ODI century by an Indian wicketkeeper outside Asia after 1999 when Rahul Dravid had scored 145 against Sri Lanka in Taunton.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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