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Journalism of Courage
After charging the Aussie leg-spinner’s googly & getting caught at the same venue in March, he hangs on the backfoot to settle scores
KL Rahul had fallen to Adam Zampa four times in his last 10 innings. The leg-spinner has an enviable record in India. In fact, the last time they had faced off in Chennai, it was Zampa who’d come out on top with an overpitched googly which Rahul couldn’t resist. In an attempt to step out and reach the ball, he had miscued it to long-on. The equation at that time in the game – 124 needed off 132 – didn’t quite justify the shot.
Hence, when Zampa came on to bowl in the World Cup on Sunday , Rahul wasn’t eager to step out. He’d batted on the surface for more than six overs already. In his reading of it, he’d survived the tough phase when the ball was hard and difficult to negotiate.
For Zampa, it was a googly that had given him Rahul’s wicket that evening in March. So he went with that in their next meeting, one that skidded onto off-stump, on the third delivery of his first over. But the Aussie must’ve been caught by surprise when Rahul decided to leave his cut shot down to the last millisecond. A little late and he’d have been the fourth casualty in what had become a tricky chase.
But he wasn’t. The placement? To the right of slip and wide enough of the fielder in the off-side circle.
It was so good that Rahul had to try another. What made this one even more exquisite, despite the line of the ball being well outside off-stump, was that Zampa had moved the cover-point finer. The slip was intact and it was another googly.
Rahul pressed his weight on the backfoot at the last second to pierce the gap between first slip and short third for another four.
The Aussie leggie must have taken a big blow to his morale. Australia have travelled with just the one full-time spinner in their squad for this World Cup, in India. There’s a big weight on the shoulders of the 31-year-old, whose track record in India has been relied upon to meet the requirements of the five-time world champions. Zampa then offered Rahul a juicy full toss on the final ball of the over to hit through the covers. Rahul had hit one boundary prior to that over. At the end of it, he had four.
Much of India’s build-up to the home World Cup had centred around Rahul’s place in the playing XI. Taking the team home in a chase, after they were 2/3 at one stage, seems just what the doctor would’ve ordered. That it included from a Zampa takedown in Chennai should make it sweeter.
The significance of Rahul’s knock was not lost on the dressing room.
“Phenomenal knock under pressure. Virat (Kohli) at least got that chance, KL’s was chanceless. He played a quality knock. He showed who he is,” Ravichandran Ashwin told Star Sports after the game.
