'I think he switches on and off for whatever reason': Kumble on Rahul

KL Rahul's struggles continued on Thursday when he fell for just nine runs off 12 balls against the Netherlands. It was the second consecutive time that Rahul fell for a single digit score in the 2022 T20 World Cup, having been dismissed for four in India's dramatic opener against Pakistan on Sunday. It has led to a number of fans questioning India's decision to stick with Rahul at the top of the order instead of giving someone like Rishabh Pant a go.

Rahul had returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines in late August and has since struggled for consistency. He had scored back to back half centuries against South Africa in the series just before the T20 World Cup, but the first of those was a 56-ball 51. India spin great Anil Kumble, who has experience of working with Rahul as India's head coach in the past and as head coach of the Punjab Kings in the IPL, said that the 30-year-old just needs to “switch on”. Rahul was captain the Punjab franchise and often came under criticism for his low strike rate at the top of the order.

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Kumble said that he understood why Rahul tended to hunker down while playing for Punjab but it is a different situation when playing for India. “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, do what you are good out,” he said on ESPNCricinfo.

“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.”

“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 KL Rahul, dictate terms from ball one. I think he sort of switches on and switches 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," said Kumble.

CSK had scored 134/6 in an IPL 2021 match against Punjab with the latter under pressure to improve their net run rate. Rahul ended up blazing an unbeaten 98 off 42 balls, smashing seven fours and eight sixes as he led his team to a six-wicket win with 42 balls in hand. “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,” he said.

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