KL Rahul has been one Indian batter who has never been sure of his batting position in the team in the last few years. He has batted at the opening spot, at number three, in the middle order and even in the lower order. He opened the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first Test match at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Rahul played well against the new ball in both innings and also scored 77 runs in the second innings. He stitched together a 201 runs partnership with Jaiswal in the second innings.
However, after the arrival of the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, it is still not sure where Rahul will bat. Sharma has opened the innings in Test cricket since 2019 and Shubman Gill will also be back for the Adelaide Test after missing out on the first due to a fractured thumb. Gill has batted at number three since India moved on from Cheteshwar Pujara since the 2023 WTC final.
KL Rahul just wants to be in the playing XI
Rahul was asked about his batting position ahead of the Adelaide Test to which the Karnataka batter said that he just wants to be in the playing XI and play for India. He added that he will want to score runs in whichever position he is asked to bat. Earlier, he did face issues while playing the new ball but now he has adjusted to it.
“I just want to be in the playing XI, go out there and bat and play for the team. I just go there and try and see what I need to do to get runs in a particular situation. Luckily I have batted in different positions. Early on, when I was asked to bat at different positions, it was a bit of a challenge mentally. How to play those first 20-25 balls? how early can I attack? Those things were a problem earlier, but it has gotten easy with the experience of playing in different formats,” KL Rahl said.
Rahul also said that the team management informed him very early that he would have to open the innings in the first Test in Perth in the absence of Sharma. The Karnataka batter was dropped from the team after the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. So, he feels that he got enough time to prepare for the Perth Test and was confident to score runs.
“I was told quite early that I will be opening. I did not play the whole New Zealand series and I was told fairly early that I might get a chance to open the innings. I got enough time to prepare. It is something that I have done a lot, so I knew how I was going to get my runs and what processes I needed to follow,” Rahul said.
