Former Indian batsman and team India batting coach Vikram Rathour said on Tuesday
that three dismissals cannot change the fact that KL Rahul is the “best T20 batsman”. He asserted that a good innings was enough to bring the Karnataka-born right-handed
batter back to his best form while displaying support for the opener, PTI reported.

In his last three innings, Rahul has shown the considerably poor form,
with no runs coming in the last two innings as he was dismissed for ducks consecutively.
The first innings, on the other hand, saw him score a mere one run before he got
out.

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“Anybody can have a lean phase and KL has been our best batsman
in T20 format. He is averaging 40 plus with a strike rate of 145 and three failures
doesn’t change the fact that he is the best batsman we have in this
format,” Rathour was quoted as saying by PTI after completion of the third
match of the ongoing T20I series between India and England, which India lost on
Tuesday.

Team India captain Virat Kohli, too, in the post-match press conference on Tuesday said Rahul was a “champion player”, adding that the former remains one of the top players as part of the opening pair with Rohit Sharma.

“I was going through a lean patch two days back. He (KL Rahul) has been a champion player. He’ll continue to be one of our main players along with Rohit at the top of the order,” Kohli was quoted by PTI as saying.

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The opener, significantly, has not been part of the game since
December, 2020 when India took on Australia in the T20 series between the two sides.

Rathour, too, noted the factor as a possible reason behind the lacklustre
performance, but added that Rahul had the capability to be back in the crease in
no time.

“I agree they do tend to get rusty when they
are sitting out but only thing we can do is to provide them practice. They are
having a lot of net sessions and even on middle (centre strips),” Rathour said

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“That’s all they can do and we can just hope that
one innings or one shot and they will be back in form”, the coach described the
situation.