In another twist in the tale in the third ODI against Australia, India sent KL Rahul to open the innings with Rohit Sharma while chasing 287 runs, thereby breaking the latter’s famed pair with Shikhar Dhawan. The in-form batsman, who has also chipped in as the wicket-keeper in this series, however, fell for just 19.

He was promoted since Dhawan injured his shoulder while fielding early in the Australian innings and left the field. It meant the Karnataka batsman batted in three different positions in as many games in this series.

In the first game in Mumbai, Rahul came out at No.3 in place of captain Virat Kohli who batted at No.4, causing a controversy. He made 47 on that occasion. In the next game, Rahul came to bat at No.5 after Kohli returned to his No.3 position and played match-winning innings of 80 not out in 52 balls. And finally, he was in the opening slot.

The frequent changes in Rahul’s batting positions saw the social media posting memes and one such funny post was shared by none other than the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise that Rahul plays for — Kings XI Punjab. Rahul is, in fact, set to captain the Kings in the upcoming season of the IPL after having scored consistently well for them.

KL Rahul, aap purush hi nahi, mahapurush ho! 😜#SaddaPunjab #INDvAUS https://t.co/mXJ8QqU3bu

— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) January 19, 2020

KL Rahul has batted at No.3, No.5 and No.2 against Australia

The meme that the Kings XI Punjab shared and captioned: “KL Rahul, aap purush hi nahi, mahapurush ho!” (KL Rahul, you are not just an ordinary man, you are a great soul!) is from a comedy hit from 1994 ‘Andaz Apna Apna’. In the scene shared from the film, actors Aamir Khan and Salman Khan are trying to accommodate Paresh Rawal in a scooter as it is too small for three men to fit. Once, they asked him to sit at the back and again in the front and then again in the middle, leaving Rawal irked.

The comparison is with deciding on the batting position of Rahul in the playing XI — sometimes in the middle order and sometimes in the opening. The caption that the Kings XI Punjab came up is also from the same film and the dialogue was delivered by Aamir to the film’s caricature-villain ‘Crime Master Gogo’ played by Shakti Kapoor.

In 29 matches and 28 innings that Rahul has played in ODIs so far, he has batted in all positions between No.1 and No.6, with the most number of outings (13) at No.1.

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