IND vs ENG | Three failures don’t define KL Rahul’s calibre in this format, asserts Vikram Rathour

India lost the third T20I of the series quite convincingly and the muddled batting order became the major talk of the town. However, what was more concerning for the Indian cricket fans was the form of KL Rahul whose series tally reads 1, 0, 0. The manner of his dismissals were pretty identical too, with high pace troubling him, but for Rathour, that is not even a concern. 

“Anyone can have a bad day. In the last one year, he has been the best batsman for us in the T20 format. He bats with an average of 40-plus and an SR of 145. Three failures don’t change the fact that he is our best batsman in this format. We need to back him and he will score runs. The best we can do is to keep providing practise to the players who are not playing in the Tests. For players like KL Rahul, it is a matter of one shot. We are not really worried about that,” Rathour said in the post-match press conference.

With India bringing Rohit Sharma back into the set-up after a rest for a couple of games, Ishan Kishan batted at No.3 with Kohli taking the No.4 role. The Indian skipper responded well with an innings of two contrasting halves. Rathour stated that Kohli is the most experienced batsman in the team but clarified that the skipper batting at No.4 was just an experiment.

“It’s definitely the match situation. He is the most experienced batsman in the team. He assesses the conditions and situations well. When it comes to changing gears, he takes the bowlers on the basis of the team’s needs.

“Nothing is long-term. We are just experimenting a little and trying to see the options. Of course, Virat is a very experienced player and he can bat at any position. But these are the last few T20 games we are playing at home, thus we are just experimenting with our options.”

India suffered a second consecutive batting collapse while batting first and both times, it was the hurried approach against the pacers that was the difference. Rathour stated that it was a tough surface to bat on, but now they have learnt the factors controlling the batting and will act on that in the fourth encounter.

“It is a tough surface to bat on. Once the dew came in, it was easier to bat on but bowlers had success in the first half. Now that we have played three games on these surfaces, we will probably have a clear idea of how to go about things in the next game if we bat first,” the former Indian batsman added.