We wanted to make a game out of this: KL Rahul

Indian opener KL Rahul feels that the hosts were very close to winning the first Test against Sri Lanka at Kolkata recently. Having set a target of 231 on the final just before the tea for the visitors, the hosts had managed to scalp 7 Sri Lankan wickets. Had there not been the weather interruption, the Indian side could have surely come out with a 1-0 scorecard in the 3-match series.

As per the recent quotes in News18, KL Rahul mentioned that the team was keen on making a game out of the available time they had after all the lost overs. He remarked that coming close to a win after being blown over by Suranga Lakmal on the first day has been a special effort. He also lauded his skipper, Virat Kohli’s top knock in the second innings. Rahul rightly conceded that the result could have been in India’s favor had there been a few more overs bowled on the day.

“We wanted to make a game out of this. We lost three wickets early in one spell of (Suranga) Lakmal so we had to play a little bit extra. (Virat) Kohli played a fabulous knock and  hat’s what was expected of one batsman and he did it. Five or six overs and it would have been our way,” quoted KL Rahul.

“On a wicket like that it would have been great if we got five days of cricket. We enjoyed playing on the wicket and it was challenging. These are the kind of matches you look forward to. Maybe, five or six overs we could have made a match out of it,” Rahul added.

Excellent comeback

Speaking further on the same note, KL Rahul mentioned that he had never been a part of a match that goes down to the wire after seeing close to 150 overs of the match being wasted. He lauded the way the Indian team showed spirit to turn things around after a poor start. He admitted that the team would have surely been a lot more pleased had they won the match, but still the team is content with their efforts at the moment.

“It was a good experience for all of us. Personally, I haven’t played a game like this which is rain-curtailed for two days and then went down to the wire. We played really well to comeback from how we started, we were nothing for three and to comeback into the game and make a game out of this was commendable which speaks volumes of the team and how we have evolved in the last couple of years. We would have loved to win the game but nonetheless we put in great efforts. The bowlers and batsmen did their job,” conceded the Indian opener.

On Sri Lanka’s delaying tactics

In the final session, when Bhuvneshwar Kumar was running through the Sri Lankan batting order, the batsmen were seen using their time delaying tactics. They somehow wanted the day to be called off so that they can escape with a draw. When asked to comment on the same, Rahul mentioned that it is a tricky thing to comment on. He noted that most teams use such tactics whilst on the field in such circumstances.

“It’s a tricky thing to say. If we were in a situation like this, we would have done the same. That’s how the game is played. Nobody wants to lose the game. These are tricks played by every team so nothing unfair about it. But as a team trying to win the game, we wanted to push in as many overs as we can. That’s how it is played,” said Rahul.

“The light was not good enough to play towards the end and we couldn’t do anything about it. The plan was to go out there an play positively. Trying to get 200-250 runs and give them a challenging total which even they can feel they can chase it down and that’s where we create the opportunities,” KL Rahul concluded.