KL Rahul has proved his ability with both the bat and gloves by now and he has become a regular member in the playing XI. From being the opener to bat at number five, as well as, keeping wickets – he has done all. In the second ODI of the three-match series against Australia, he smashed a match-winning 80 and then effecting a quickfire stumping as well. However, KL Rahul is happy with his versatile responsibilities now.
The Karnataka opener is clearly enjoying being in the limelight and celebrated his promotion in the latest BCCI Central contracts as well which he has earned with his hard work and decent performance throughout the year across formats.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start. Each day I’ve been thrown different roles and responsibilities and I’m enjoying it for now,” KL Rahul said.
With Virat Kohli back at his usual position at number 3, Rahul moved to number five. While batting, he took on all the Australian bowlers with six boundaries and three sixes in a 52-ball knock. One of those sixes saw Rahul go inside out and over extra cover against the best of Australia bowlers – Mitchell Starc.
“Batting at 5, I wanted to give myself a few balls, you know what the wicket is doing and Virat said that it’s coming on nicely. A few came off the middle, and I was confident I could score, and everything else faded away. Glad I got some partnerships going and played my role to the best of my abilities,” KL Rahul explained.
While his performance with the bat took India to a decent score of 340, it was his super-fast stumping that helped dismiss Aaron Finch very cheaply. Not regular at keeping up until recently, Rahul was given the responsibility in the absence of Rishabh Pant.
“Kuldeep (Yadav) told me my wicket-keeping was good. I grew up wicket-keeping but I didn’t do it a lot for my first-class team, but in the last few weeks I did keep for Karnataka, so I’ve been in decent wicketkeeping touch, so hopefully I can keep my spinners and fast bowlers happy,” the Player-of-the-match concluded.
