India batsman KL Rahul had to sit out for the Indore and Ahmedabad Tests against Australia recently. However, the right-hander, who was struggling for form in the longer format, didn’t allow that to affect his performance in white-ball cricket. On Friday, Rahul, who smashed an unbeaten 75 (7×4, 1×6), played a key role in India’s five-wicket win over Australia in the first ODI at Wankhede Stadium. India pacer Mohammed Shami, who claimed 3-17 in India’s triumph, praised Rahul’s match-winning knock and revealed that the Karnataka batsman was under pressure ahead of this game.
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“It is obvious that he had pressure [before this game]. We spoke a lot about a player losing form or getting it back, but a player always tries to play a good innings to give the team a good start. You witnessed that. Sometimes luck is not in your favour and the player is not able to perform the way he wants to. Such was that phase and yes, he had that pressure. And we lost too many wickets early. “But the way he built the innings, it felt good that our player has scored runs while under pressure,” Shami said during a post-match press conference.
