Spotlight on KL Rahul as India aim for series whitewash against Sri Lanka in Colombo

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  • KL Rahul has not had the best of times so far in the ODI series.

    Virat Kohli’s India will be looking to complete their second whitewash of the Sri Lankan tour when they take on the islanders in the final ODI of the five-match series at Colombo on Wednesday.

    Almost everything the visitors have touched this tour has turned into gold with dominant displays in every match as Sri Lanka have found it tough to find an answer to the marauding Indians.

    Going into Sunday with a 4-0 lead, Kohli and co will be looking to experiment with the team combinations in the absence of any pressure.

    There will however, be a slight amount of pressure for Indian batsman KL Rahul when he pads up to the crease at the Premadasa stadium.

    The stylish Karnataka player has not had the best of series with the bat in the limited-overs format but the performance of the unit has a whole has meant that Rahul’s meagerly contributions have not made much of a difference.

    The India Test opener has yet to consolidate his place for the Men in Blue in the 50-over format with only nine innings played so far in his fledgling career.

    He introduced himself with a bang after scoring a century on debut against Zimbabwe in 2016 but has scored only a single score over 50 in the innings to come since then.

    Indeed, in his last six innings, he’s notched only a miserly 52 runs for India in ODIs and has particularly struggled against Sri Lanka’s young-spinner Akila Dananjaya in the ongoing series.

    Rahul has been dismissed thrice in a row by Sri Lankan spinner Akila Dananjaya.

    Rahul has been dismissed thrice in a row by Sri Lankan spinner Dananjaya.

    Rahul has fallen prey to the youngster in each of his three innings in the series where he has a highest score of just 17.

    His form in the limited-overs set-up has been in stark contrast to his Test showings where he recently became the first Indian batsman to score seven consecutive half-centuries.

    Rahul missed the first Test against the hosts due to a fever but scored a half-century each of the following two games to register the record.

    With the likes of Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane knocking on the doors, the 25-year-old Rahul will need to step up soon if he wants to secure a place in the side come the 2019 ICC World Cup.

    Shikhar Dhawan’s absence for Sunday’s game means the right-handed batsman could even take up the opener’s slot where he has flourished in the Test set-up.

    For now, Rahul still has it all to prove as he seeks to transfer his Test form to white-ball cricket.

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