‘Just want to be in the playing XI’ - KL Rahul ready to bat at any position to feature regularly

Senior India batter KL Rahul has batted at multiple positions in his career. In Test cricket, he has batted in five different positions, but the 32-year-old is yet to cement his spot in the longest format of the game. Due to poor form, he was dropped after the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru, but the team management backed him, especially given his stats in Test matches away from home.

With captain Rohit Sharma missing the first Test, Rahul got to open the batting alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first Test in Perth and that helped the cricketer to get back into the groove. He stitched a 201-run partnership with Jaiswal in the second innings, resulting in a massive 295-run win for the visitors. However, with Rohit slated to come back in the second Test in Adelaide, there are once again doubts regarding the Karnataka batter's position in the order.

The Bengaluru-born confirmed on Wednesday, December 04, that he will feature in the second Test in Adelaide but didn’t reveal his batting position. The cricketer however mentioned that he is willing to bat at any number as his goal is to be a consistent member in the playing XI. Rahul also revealed switching positions frequently bothered him earlier in his career but with experience, he handles it much better these days.

“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,” Rahul said in the press conference.

Also Read: Sanjay Manjrekar opines continuing with Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul as openers

Don't have the experience of playing Pink Ball: Rahul

Notably, the upcoming Test in Adelaide will be Rahul’s first Pink Ball Test match. Addressing that, he mentioned talking to other experienced players about how to adjust in the middle and added that one must follow the ball well as it does something different in comparison to the red ball.

“This will be my first pink ball Test match. I don't have the game experience like some other players have in the team. It is just about speaking to the guys and get to know what were the things that they found hard and how did they manage to adjust and make changes. In practice, I felt that it was a little different in terms of how you watch this ball,” Rahul said.