Asia Cup 2022: 'KL Rahul has a chance to shine against Pakistan in absence of Shaheen Afridi,' claims Styris

New Delhi, Aug 24: Star India cricketer KL Rahul's performance with the bat was the cynosure of all eyes during the three-match ODI series in Zimbabwe. Rahul - who was also appointed the captain of the side - was making his comeback after an injury layoff and the team management, as well as his fans, were hoping the right-handed batter finds his form ahead of Asia Cup.

In the ODIs against Zimbabwe, Rahul got to bat in two innings and posted scores of 1 (5balls) and 30 (46 balls). While fans believed the right-handed batter failed to cash in on the opportunity to find his form but former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris believes the time Rahul spent in the middle and the balls he faced in the third ODI will bode him well.

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Speaking exclusively on SPORTS18's daily sports news show 'SPORTS OVER THE TOP', Styris shared his views about Rahul's preparedness for the much-publicised India versus Pakistan match at the Asia Cup 2022, on August 28.

Styris said, "First of all, with regards to KL Rahul, I wouldn't be worried either. I'd be worried if he'd be facing 5-10 balls each innings but the last one in particular - 46 deliveries I think it was. If that's the case, it means that time in the middle is coming and that means that he will become more and more fluent. Game time in the middle is far more valuable than the nets. So, I expect he'll be ready to go against Pakistan."

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Styris further claimed that the absence of Pakistan's star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi will be a major boost to the Karnataka batsman for left-arm seamers are his weakness. "Now, for that one? I'm with you though, I think he's going to go okay. The reason for that is (because there's) no Shaheen Afridi, we know that he's out injured, the way he attacks the stumps that is the way you get KL Rahul out. LBW and bowled. The fact that the main man who exposes that weakness is not there. I think KL Rahul has got an opportunity to be the star still, that we know he is because as Saba rightly pointed out, the pedigree is there," he added further.

Meanwhile, former India cricketer Saba Karim spoke about the new breed of Indian cricketers. "Yeah, this is the new breed of Indian cricketers who have been so impressive, and most of them, or at least 2-3 of them you can pick out from there can become all-format players for India. And Shubman Gill is right up in the pecking order. We talked about Rishabh Pant, we can talk about Shubman Gill now. So, there are so many youngsters who are coming up to order, but also it means that due to this tough competition that we see now on the Indian side, anybody who gets an opportunity wants to score big, wants to make an impact," the former India wicketkeeper said.