Team India has left for South Africa for the upcoming Test series, which starts on December 26. The number one ranked Test side will be without their star opening batter Rohit Sharma, who has been ruled out due to hamstring injury.
However, KL Rahul has returned to the whites after missing the New Zealand Tests. The focus should be on Rahul, who has proved his credentials in the longest format after the successful tour of England. Notably, Rahul smashed 315 runs from four matches as India ended the five-match series 2-1 before the final Test got suspended due to COVID-19.
The tour of South Africa would be extremely crucial for Rahul, especially after his performance in the English conditions. And ahead of the highly-anticipated Test leg against the Proteas, former India batter VVS Laxman has shared a ‘success mantra’ for Rahul to shine in the rainbow nation.
Before providing the roadmap to excel in South Africa, Laxman heaped praises on Rahul for cashing the opportunity he got after Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill were injured and India needed someone to partner Rohit at the top.
“What a fantastic comeback he [Rahul] has made into this Indian Test team. He got an opportunity because Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill were injured, but he seized the opportunity,” said Laxman on Star Sports show Game Plan.
When it comes to his golden tip for the Karnataka stalwart, Laxman reckoned that Rahul is naturally an aggressive player, and therefore the right-handed batter should pay attention to his off-stump as it will be extremely crucial in South Africa.
“We know that he is an aggressive player, he is a stroke player, but he also knows that if you want to succeed in South Africa, you should know where your off-stump is. We saw in the series against England, he was leaving a lot of deliveries,” added Laxman.
Rahul has so far played 40 Tests for India, in which he has managed to score 2321 runs at an average of 35 with six hundreds and 12 half-centuries.
