A sight to behold was all one could imagine about KL Rahul's majestic century in the second ODI of the ongoing series against New Zealand at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Wednesday. Former cricketer Ravi Shastri, too, was awed by the way the ace batter built the innings against the BlackCaps to get to his eighth century in the format, and bail the Indian team out of trouble in the first innings.

Shastri, who was on air during the match, credited the Karnataka cricketer for batting beautifully even when the conditions were not as helpful. The erstwhile India head coach explained how Rahul took a cautious approach initially, but later amped up his pace of scoring runs, showing immense maturity as a middle-order batter. Shastri also lauded Rahul's ability to maintain a calm and composed approach with the bat, after he got to 112 not-out off just 92 balls.

“When he came, it wasn't easy. To do it the way he did, I think full credit. He came at number five today, but India won 118-4 at one stage when Virat got out. The pitch had slowed up a bit. The ball was a little older and softer. And two newcomers had come to the crease. Jadeja and he were both on zero when that partnership started. And then once he reached about 30 or 40, you could see the fluency. He started opening up and played some terrific shots. For him to, show the temperament that he showed there, he kept his calmness, his cool, to suss the conditions — that's maturity,” Shastri told via BCCI.tv.

Furthermore, Shastri also believes that the 33-year-old has already played a couple of impactful knocks in the three-match series. Rahul, who built a couple of important partnerships with Ravindra Jadeja and Nitish Kumar Reddy, did the bulk of the scoring, as the hosts were able to post 284-7 at the end of the first innings. Shastri believes that without Rahul's presence, run-scoring may have been difficult in Rajkot.

“I thought he paced the innings beautifully. Wickets were falling around him. And then in the last four overs, we know the damage he can do. We saw it even in the last game, the way he finished it. You look at the eventual score, 118 to 284. 165 runs were scored during the time he was at the crease, and he scored 112 of them. Lower down the order, it's never easy at number five to come and get 100. I think full credit. That stability he gives that middle order is extremely important,” Shastri concluded.

Despite Rahul's valiant efforts in the first innings, the Indians couldn't defend the total, courtesy of Daryl Mitchell, the centurion from the BlackCaps, who guided the visitors to a seven-wicket win. Mitchell was well-supported by Will Young, as the series is currently levelled with another match remaining. The series decider will be played on Sunday, January 18 at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. It will be interesting to see who wins the ODI leg, before the action moves to the five T20Is.