KL Rahul: Indias crisis man keeps hosts alive with heroic century in 2nd ODI vs NZ
KL Rahul brought up his eight ODI century in the penultimate over of India's innings in the second match of the three-ODI series against New Zealand at Rajkot.
KL Rahul once again lived up to his reputation of India's crisis man with a heroic century in the second ODI against New Zealand in Rajkot. The Karnataka batter, who has been at his dominant best in ODI cricket in the last few years, played the role of an anchor and aggressor expertly to keep India alive in the game at the innings break. Courtesy of his eighth ODI ton, India survived a mini-collapse and reached a respectable total of 284 for 7 in 50 overs.
An accomplished middle-order batter, Rahul, batting at number five, consolidated to arrest the slide and accelerated to finish with a flourish on a sluggish track, which was not a straightforward wicket to bat on.
Rahul, like he had done several times at the ODI World Cup 2023 and the Champions Trophy 2025, stood tall to arrest a collapse and didn't let the game slip away after Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer all departed in quick succession.
Rahul shows class, courage in Rajkot
From 118/4 in the 24th over, Rahul shared a 73-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja and a 57-run partnership with Nitish Kumar Reddy by the end of the 47th over. In the 23 overs, India lost just 2 wickets and scored over 132 runs. It couldn't have been possible without Rahul's patience and perseverance.
Rahul did the bulk of the scoring in both the partnerships and remarkably without letting his strike rate drop.
With Nitish and Harshit Rana departing in quick succession, Rahul, with no support on the other hand, took matters into his own hands and smashed three boundaries to Kyle Jamieson in the 49th over and brought up his 8th ODI hundred, fifth against New Zealand and 3rd at number five, from just 87 balls.
He finished the innings in style by hitting Zak Foulkes for two boundaries in the final over and took India to a competitive total, finishing unbeaten on 112 off 92 balls.
Earlier, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma added 70 for the opening wicket in 12.2 overs after Kiwi skipper Michael Bracewell sent India to bat first at the Niranjan Shah Stadium.
While Rohit fell for 24, Gill scored 56. Both batters failed to convert the starts into big scores, just like Virat Kohli, who was dismissed for 23 off 29 balls.
For New Zealand, Kristian Clarke was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 56.