KL Rahul on playing ODIs: In a press conference, Lokesh Rahul spoke about the team management’s assurance, his batting position and other things.
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The ongoing Asia Cup has been an atypical sort of tournament for Indian batsman Lokesh Rahul. Having scored an outstanding Test century against England at The Oval in the last Test, many had expected him to feature in India’s playing eleven from the first match itself.
In which wasn’t the case, it seemed as if the team management had moved on from trying Rahul in the middle-order. As a reserve opener, getting a game ahead of the in-form duo of captain Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan is highly unlikely.
As a result, Rahul was overlooked for the first four matches. In which was his first match of the Asia Cup yesterday, Rahul top-scored for India, scoring his second ODI half-century, 60 (66), with the help of five fours and a six. Rahul attended the press conference after the match and spoke about the team management explaining him their expectations out of him.
He was quoted, “The team management has sat me down and explained exactly what they expect out of me. I needed to know personally also, to kind of prepare and know in which direction I’m heading.
“Whenever I don’t get a chance, I use my time to work on my skill and improve my fitness. The amount of cricket we play, the number of days we’re on the road, it’s hard to keep fit. When I don’t play, it’s easy to sulk and ask the same question: ‘Why am I not playing?’ But I try to use the time to improve my skill, get better with my fitness and make the most of it when I get a chance.”
Rahul is an archetype all-format player, someone who can adjust well according to the existing conditions. On being asked about the way in which he makes changes to his game, he said, “I honestly try to keep my batting simple: see ball, hit ball. I can’t worry about how many opportunities I get. Whatever chance I get, I have to back my natural game, which is to take on the bowling and take shots. That’s what I try to do.”
For someone who isn’t a regular member of the ODI squad or bats at one given position, Rahul agrees to the fact that it isn’t easy when you are given chances at irregular intervals. “Coming in and out of the team, you don’t find your rhythm as soon as you walk in, so like today, I took time. I tried to go hard initially, but I felt like I wasn’t in good positions, I was not middling the ball too well. That’s when I tell myself to play a couple of balls, take a couple of overs, read the pace of the wicket, get used to being in the middle again and then back my natural game.
“For any middle-order [batsman] in a shorter format, it’s difficult because you don’t know how many balls you can take, how fast is too fast, how slow is too slow. It’s a very tricky situation when you walk in. Even when I walked in, I found it difficult to go straightaway and get the strike rotating, to hit boundaries you’ve to take a little bit of time”, he added.
In the six ODIs where Rahul hasn’t opened the batting for India, he has scored 37 runs at an average of 9.25 and a strike rate of 63.79. The numbers give clear indication of Rahul not feeling comfortable while batting at No. 4. On being asked about the same, Rahul answered, “Look, it’s been challenging of course to bat in different positions, and some positions which I haven’t been comfortable with. I’ve always batted at the top of the order from junior cricket, that’s the most comfortable position for me.
“But in a team sport, you need to be flexible and whatever responsibility the team gives you. You need to put your hand up and try to do the best you can. Unfortunately, for me, the chances I’ve got in the middle order haven’t really gone my way. Again, I just look to keep working hard, keep improving my game and whatever opportunities I get, I try to give it my best shot.”
Rahul received a lot of flak yesterday after he opted for a review. With the ball hitting the stumps clearly, it meant that India had lost their only review. What also didn’t work in their favor was when stand-in captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik were given wrongly out. Rahul admitted to the fact that he shouldn’t have opted for the review. “It’s very tricky when you have just one review. Obviously looking back at it, I felt I shouldn’t have taken the review”, he said.
“At that time, I felt I may have been struck outside and wanted to take the chance. Sometimes you can sit here and review the review you took and say ‘maybe I could’ve left it to the guys in the end.’ I took the chance, but we learn with it. The shot I played and the review I took, if it happens again, I’ll be in a better position to deal with it”, he further said.
During the interaction, Rahul was asked about his thoughts on Afghanistan’s team and how they have fared in this tournament. Much like Dhoni, Rahul also praised the Afghans wholeheartedly. “We’ve seen how much they’ve improved over the last two years. Rashid, Mujeeb [Ur Rahman], [Mohammad] Nabi – all these guys have played in the IPL, they play around the world in different franchises. We can’t look at them and think they’re a walkover. They keep proving it over and over again.
“You want to be part of games where both teams compete till the end. It was exciting. If the result had gone in our favour, we would’ve been more happy, but nonetheless, still happy to have played a game like this. It will stay in our memories for a long time”, said the 26-year old Indian opener.
Rahul’s attempt to opt for the review earned him harsh comments from numerous users of the social media platform Twitter. Read some of the tweets below:
