KL Rahul looked out of form in the T20I series against England and couldn’t get going. However, he found form in the 1st ODI as he scored an unbeaten 62 off 43 balls to help India score 317.
There has been a lot of talk around KL Rahul and his form. The Karnataka cricketer had 1, 0, 0 and 14 in the first four T20Is against England before he was dropped for the fifth game. The likes of Virat Kohli and batting coach Vikram Rathore spoke highly of Rahul in the press conferences. Despite his success in 50-over cricket at No. 5 over the last year, there were question marks on his place in the side, especially with Rishabh Pant in good form.
However, Rahul shut all his critics with a brilliant half-century in the first ODI. He scored an unbeaten 62 off 43 balls in a knock that included four fours and as many sixes.
This is part of the journey, everyone goes through this (poor form), I didn’t do anything different. Obviously as a player you’re disappointed, I have been sitting on the bench for a while, last time I played was three, three and a half months ago. So, I was excited and looking forward to doing well in the T20 series,
KL Rahul was quoted saying in the pre-match press conference ahead of the second ODI in Pune.
When the five-match T20I series started, Rahul had returned to competitive cricket for the first time since the first week of December. He was with the Indian Test squad in Australia and at home for the series against England but did not get a single opportunity. He did look a touch rusty.
The No. 5 wicket-keeper batsman shared a crucial partnership with debutant Krunal Pandya who scored an unbeaten half-century and 58 off 31 balls (seven fours and two sixes). The duo put on 112 runs for the sixth wicket, and it came in just 57 balls.
I think the one-day format, playing at number 5, I could take a little bit more time than I did maybe in T20s. I wanted to give myself (time) but it wasn’t going my way (in T20s). Having hit a couple of good shots from the middle of the bat, footwork going well, your nerves tend to calm down a little bit more. When I walked (in), obviously Shikhar was batting well. We lost a couple of wickets.
I knew when Krunal walked in… me having played a little more cricket, I realised that we had to stitch a partnership. In a way, when you stop thinking about your own personal game, the team’s responsibility is ahead of you, you start thinking a little bit more clearer, having spent 20-25 balls in the middle, I started to feel a little more confident, really happy that I could get that partnership with Krunal and we managed to get the team past 300,
Rahul added.
Rahul has been playing at No. 5 since January 2020. Since then, he has played eight innings at that spot. He has amassed 439 runs at an average of 73.16 and a strike-rate of 118.01. He has registered four half-centuries and a hundred as well. His overall game in white-ball cricket has constantly been on the rise, and he has become a critical part of the Indian ODI line-up at No. 5.
