England found a raw pace sensation in Jofra Archer who impressed one and all in all formats of the game. Archer was the spearhead of England bowling attack during the World-Cup winning campaign as well as the subsequent Ashes series.
The Barbados-born flattened Steve Smith with his barrage of vicious bouncers in the Lord’s Test match. But there is one Indian batsman who has annoyed him in the past.
During a recent conversation with Rajasthan Royals’ spin consultant Ish Sodhi, Archer had to name the toughest batsman he has bowled to in his T20 career.
A franchise cricket wayfarer, Archer has represented Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League (BBL), Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Khulna Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), apart from donning the pinks of Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Archer named KL Rahul as the toughest batsman he has faced in his vast T20 career. “Got to say, KL Rahul, he got the better of me a couple of times when we played Kings XI Punjab. Definitely him, it was annoying to bowl to him,” Archer told Sodhi.
To which Sodhi concurred by saying, “Yea he played well against us in the T20I series in New Zealand, taking advantage of the short boundaries.”
Hey @lionsdenkxip, something you may like to hear. 😉
Watch EP. 7 of Royals Podcast with @JofraArcher this Tuesday! 🎙️#HallaBol | #RoyalsFamily pic.twitter.com/dYc6R1gDIQ
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 10, 2020
The 2019 season of the IPL turned out to be a breakthrough season for Lokesh Rahul. There he finished second in the leaderboard behind David Warner, with his tally of 593 runs.
Rahul smashed a glorious unbeaten ton in the tournament apart from the six half-centuries he accumulated at a stupendous average of 53.9.
Shortly after, he translated his form at the international level, by cementing his spot in white-ball cricket for India.
Batting at number five in ODIs, Rahul has answered all questions for the brittle middle-order. In the absence of Dhawan, the Rahul-Rohit Sharma pair is one of the most formidable opening partnership in T20I cricket.
