It was a complete chaos in the middle to start Scott Boland's spell.
The drama unfolded in the middle on the first delivery of the eighth over when Scott Boland came into the attack. Boland bowled a back-of-a-length delivery to Rahul that just moved away with good carry, and the bounce was slightly more than the batter was expecting on that ball.
Rahul couldn’t resist poking at it and was tentative with his approach, so the ball flew straight to the wicketkeeper. The Australians started celebrating, and the umpire raised his finger in a flash, so Rahul began to walk, thinking he had edged it.
However, the third umpire conveyed to the on-field umpire that Boland had overstepped, and it was given a no-ball to stop the Aussie celebration midway. Later, the snicko meter also confirmed that Rahul hadn’t nicked the ball, even though he started walking without even considering reviewing.
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Nevertheless, that didn’t matter as it was a no-ball, so whatever happened after that regarding the dismissal didn’t matter. However, Rahul walking away despite not nicking was bizarre, given he must have felt it, and even if he didn’t, he should have at least chatted with his partner Shubman Gill on the other end before going off.
As if the first-ball drama wasn’t enough, another chaotic even unfurled on the fifth delivery of the same set. Boland bowled a length delivery, and the ball again bounced a bit extra to compel Rahul to play the line of the ball, and he edged it again.
The ball flew straight to the first slip, patrolled by Usman Khawaja, who dived low to his right and got his hands on the ball. However, he couldn’t hold on to it, and the ball popped out of his hands to give another lifeline to the batter.
The ball was slightly low, but Khawaja would have fancied his chances to grab it. Rahul, nervous at the start, rode his luck and was still on the crease despite all the drama.
Soon after, he started playing his shots. KL will look to make the most of this and convert this start into a big score.
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