SA vs IND: KL Rahul set to open the innings in ODI series

KL Rahul is going to make his captaincy debut in the first ODI against South Africa where he will be leading the team in the absence of Rohit Sharma. Rohit sustained an injury while practicing in the nets which ruled him out of the both Test and ODI series against SA. The first ODI of the series is scheduled to be played on January 19.

While speaking to the media, Rahul confirmed that he would be opening the innings in the absence of Rohit. He has opened the innings for India in 18 matches and has made 808 runs at an average of 48.45 and a strike rate of 83.49. Rahul has hit three centuries and five half-centuries as an opener in ODIs.

He last opened the ODI innings for India in January 2020 against Australia in Bengaluru. The Indian team tried to project him as the finisher in ODIs in the absence of a proper finisher. He played the last nine matches as a finisher and gathered 474 runs including two centuries and two half-centuries. Rahul made his ODI debut as an opener and became the first Indian player to make a century on debut. He has opened the innings for the most of time in his career and will be back in his favorite position during the first ODI.

“I have batted at different positions in the last 14-15 months. But with Rohit not there, I will be opening,” Rahul said during the press conference.

We did exceptional things under Virat: KL Rahul

It will be the first ODI for Virat Kohli after he was removed from the ODI captaincy position last year. Rahul mentioned that under Kohli, the Indian team achieved several things and his role would be to continue on the same path. On his captaincy debut, Rahul mentioned that he would be taking one game at a time. He also added that he would take lessons from Kohli and MS Dhoni, two former Indian captains.

“I stay balanced and take one game at a time. There were a lot of learnings from the 2nd Test. Hopefully, I can take lessons from MS and Virat and keep improving along my journey. I don’t really set targets. I just take one game at a time. The two great captains have shown us the way. We did exceptional things under Virat. It will be important for us to build on that,” Rahul added.