‘When I go into the middle I assess the conditions’ – KL Rahul opens up on batting in middle order
India’s most promising, wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul recently opened up about batting in the middle order of the team after India clinched an easy victory against Australia by 2-1 ahead of the ODI, World Cup, 2023, which will be hosted by India. The Indian Cricket Board decided to rest India’s captain Rohit Sharma and key player, Virat Kohli for the first two matches of the series, which led KL Rahul to lead the side for the first two games.
India won the first 2 ODI matches in the leadership of KL Rahul by huge margins While they ultimately lost the third ODIs. KL Rao discussed that considering he has been batting as an opener for the team for the longest part of his career, it has been challenging for him to bat at number four or five.
KL Rahul on batting in the middle order for the team in ODIs
“Batting at four and five doesn’t feel like a huge difference. But yes, having opened the batting all my life – dropping to No. 5 seemed very different. I have been given that role for the last couple of years and I have played at that position for a long period of time. So, I understand the changes I have to make technically and mentally and when to take risks”, said KL Rahul during a conversation with Jio cinema after India defeated Australia in the ODI series.
“Also, I had some time away from the game – went back and saw a couple of videos of players who have done really well at No.4 and 5 and how they lead their innings. So, when I go into the middle I assess the conditions and execute the best that I can”, he said.
“The last few weeks have put everyone in a similar mindset. The Asia Cup was really important for us, every game was a must-win game, and we were playing very competitive games. Same here during this series, we played a very good Australian side and they have had the edge over us in India in the last couple of years. So, we tried to do our best – we were assigned very specific roles and asked to execute them the best we could. Luckily for us, a lot of guys did that really well. So hopefully, we can build on that and get better as a team”, added KL Rahul.
