IND vs WI | KL Rahul hopeful of making the most opening the innings
KL Rahul is hopeful of making the most of his chances as a T20 opener in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan in order to cement his chances in India's T20 squad for next year's World Cup Dwon Under. Rahul hit a brilliant 62 off 40 balls which helped India beat West Indies in the first T20I at Hyderabad.
Half-centuries from KL Rahul and Virat Kohli ensured that India chased down the mammoth target of 208 set by the West Indies with more than an over to spare. Rahul was sensational for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this season, helping his team to win both the tournaments. He has managed to bring that form on the international stage as he made a quickfire 62 of 40 balls and more importantly kept the scoreboard ticking at a time when Kohli was finding it difficult to time the ball.
Rahul has mostly been tried in India's middle-order with the likes of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan opening the innings. But with Dhawan's absence, Rahul showed that his best position to bat is at the top of the order and he can bat with the utmost freedom. He is hopeful of making the most of such opportunities and giving India the starts they require in the powerplay to post a big score or chase a big target.
"It's a long way, honestly. I've got the opportunity to bat at the top of the order again after a couple of series. So (I'm) looking forward to just making the best use of it," Rahul said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
"Today was a good outing, a good hit in the middle and hopefully I just continue the same thing and not worry about October next year, there's a lot of games before that," he further added.
Rahul was dropped from the Indian Test side as he looked terribly out of form and short of confidence and was replaced by Mayank Agarwal. However, he went back to playing domestic cricket and looks to have got his confidence back and tends to play more freely in white-ball cricket. He understands his role in the team as an opener and believes that the confidence that he gets from scoring runs will help him and the Indian team in the long run.
"My role is to set the foundation and we have others to do their job later, the finishing job. Today I missed out, but I'll try to do better in the next match. You need runs as a batsman in any format, that is what gives you confidence. The thing that is giving me confidence is winning games (irrespective of the formats). I don't change my game when I play there (domestic) - that's how I like to keep it. I like to keep things simple," he concluded.