India’s score read 391/4 – still 86 runs short of England’s first innings total – at the end of play on day three in the fifth Test, thanks mainly to KL Rahul who fell one run short of a well-deserved double century late in the day.
Rahul and fellow Karnataka batsman Karun Nair added 161 runs for the fourth wicket to lead India out of troubled waters after Cheteshwar Pujara and captain Virat Kohli fell cheaply after lunch.
There was a lot of praise as well as sympathy for Rahul on Twitter. Indian Test great VVS Laxman lauded the 24-year-old’s ability to learn from his mistakes while former Australian cricketer Dean Jones tweeted that Rahul’s batting is such that it helps bring crowds to the stadium.
On one hand, Aakash Chopra sympathised with Rahul as he was dismissed on 199 while on the other, Mohammad Kaif and Harsha Bhogle hailed his conversion rate from fifties to hundreds. Out of the five times Rahul has crossed 50 in his Test career so far, he has got to the three-figures mark four times.
Here, we look at the top tweets of the day.
Well played @klrahul11 👏Loved the way u learnt from ur previous mistakes& didn't repeat them👌 Double it up buddy😊 #INDvENG @BCCI
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) December 18, 2016
Happiness of scoring 199 runs drowned by the sorrow of not scoring 1 run. Cricket....a game obsessed with milestones. Well played, KL Rahul
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) December 18, 2016
Wonderful from KL Rahul.
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) December 18, 2016
6 centuries now in International Cricket and only 2 half centuries.
This is called conversion.#IndvsEng pic.twitter.com/PntHhVPYY8
Quality player! Feel for him..
— Dean Jones (@ProfDeano) December 18, 2016
makes people to watch him bat live at the match ! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/cCWpailFlj
There are many good habits in cricket but few better than the habit of converting starts to big scores. #KLRahul will be a very fine player.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 18, 2016
6 International 100s for KL Rahul - all in different countries.
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) December 18, 2016
Tests - Aus, SL, WI, Ind
ODIs - Zim
T20Is - USA#IndvsEng
KL Rahul parents would be proud to see dirt on his shirt but the same parents would have scolded him badly for the dirt when he was kid 😉
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) December 18, 2016
#KLRahul
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 18, 2016
199 is rarer than 200s
in Tests
200+ scored 356 times
199 scored just 11 times (incl two unbeaten) #IndvEng
Karun Nair and KL Rahul! College friends... Ranji Teammates and now sharing the dressing room of Indian Cricket! Loving their partnership!
— Gunjan 'I AM' (@damsel15aug) December 18, 2016
Don't worry KL Rahul, once Sehwag also got out on 190s, he scored 2 triple centuries after that.#IndvsEng
— Sunil- The Cricketer (@1sInto2s) December 18, 2016
Not the toughest pitch, but Karun Nair needed that half-century. As did the team. Well played. #IndvEng
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) December 18, 2016
