IND vs WI | Important to keep playing cricket and be match ready, states KL Rahul
KL Rahul, who was Man of the Match in the 3rd T20I for his stunning 91, has emphasized on the need for cricketers to keep playing and be match ready to chip in if needed. Despite being in and out of the national team, Rahul has continued to play for Karnataka across formats to keep his form going.
2019 has been a year of mixed emotions for KL Rahul, as despite being phased out of the Test team by Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma, the Karnataka opener has managed to make himself a regular for the country in the game's shorter formats. But due to India's international schedule - which sees Tests, ODIs and T20Is juggled - Rahul has found himself constantly in and out of the team, something that's never easy for any cricketer.Ā
However, Rahul has utilized his time out of the Indian team in an extremely efficient manner, turning up for his state side Karnataka in both Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring heaps of runs in both competitions to ensure that he stays in good nick. What this has, in turn, meant that is whenever Rahul has turned up to play for the national side, he's been able to pick up the pace with ease, thanks to his flow being unbroken due to him being in constant touch with the game. The Karnataka opener emphasized on the need for cricketers to stay 'match ready' by getting matches under the belt to make it easier for them to chip in should there arise a situation of them having to feature in the XI.
"It's so important for a batsman or a bowler (or) for anybody for that matter to be in good rhythm, be out there in the middle.Ā No matter how much you train or how many hours you put in at the nets, when you go out in the middle it is completely different," Rahul said in the post-match press conference, reported News18.
"It is important that everybody stays match ready and they have enough runs behind them as batsmen and as bowlers and have bowled enough be it first-class cricket or any other format, it is important that we keep playing cricket and be in the middle. That's helped me and I have always felt that's what helps a batsman to stay in good rhythm, not putting hours in the net, I'd rather be in the middle playing games," the opener added.
India's kryptonite in the game's shortest format has been their inability to win matches batting first, with them, prior to the 3rd T20I at Wankhede on Wednesday, having lost three matches at home this season trying to defend a total. But in Mumbai, they finally managed to turn things around, firing from all cylinders and posting a mammoth 240 runs on the board to bat the visitors out of the game even before the chase begun.
The 27-year-old opener said that India's approach to games whilst batting first was still a work in progress, but elated over their performance on Wednesday, and stated that the whole team learnt something new from their clinical showing in theĀ third T20I. Rahul also stated that moving forward, it was important for India to stick to their strengths and stated that the team was capable of pulling off what they did on Wednesday on a regular basis.
"We are looking to work on our first innings (batting first)," he said. "At times we've started thinking we have to get 200. That's T20 cricket nowadays, no total is enough, you always feel 10-15 runs short At times you try to overachieve. It always happens when you're batting first, not just in T20 cricket. We learn something new and today was a good confidence booster. We can learn from this innings, hopefully, we can continue to do that more often and the results will go more our way.
"Each team has its own strengths and team India, we do have big six hitters and all of us can hit sixes. More skill and we still manage to get 220-240 and it is not the first time that we have scored 200-plus. We have done it so often and we need to stick to our strengths and what works best for our team and what we are all blessed with is skill and we will try to use that and back our strengths."
Post the game, Rahul also caught up with Hardik Pandya, who is currently out of the game recovering from a back injury, for a chat.