India’s World Cup opener is just a day away and the time has come for them to put everything they planned for the last four years to practice. Their biggest conundrum over the past few years was finding the right candidate to bat at the No 4 spot.
As things stand, the answer to that problem is KL Rahul. A blistering knock in the warm-up game against Bangladesh may have earned him a place in the Indian team for the game against South and perhaps even beyond.
Not so long ago, things were looking bleak for Rahul, when he and teammate Hardik Pandya were suspended by the BCCI for making inappropriate comments on talk show Koffee with Karan.
But little less than five months from the incident, Rahul and Pandya have come back stronger and look set to play vital roles for the Indian team in England and Wales.
Speaking to the Indian Express on battling tough times, Rahul came out as a person with immense self-belief that seems to have carried the batsmen through troubled waters.
“When you go off international cricket and have had a bad patch, you are motivated to come back to the team automatically. You are hungry in your approach. I spoke to Rahul (Dravid) bhai, my coaches, and I used the time off from international cricket. I knew I will bounce back stronger, I kept faith in myself. Am very happy and grateful about whatever happened in my life. Success, failure, you need to accept everything,” Rahul told the newspaper.
The 27-year-old went through a rough patch last year struggling for runs before he scored a century at the Sydney Cricket Ground against Australia.
However, Rahul insisted he didn’t lose patience in a bid to return among the runs.
“I was very calm in my head and still very positive. I didn’t want to back away from this challenge or sit in the room and say, ‘Oh god, I don’t want to face this bowler, or I hope to get 30-40 runs and save my position.’ I was never in that mindset, I was always positive. That’s the person I’m, I know I’m not going to win always. When you go through bad form, you go through bad form. Just accept it and you learn so much about it. You take the positives from it,” he added.
Rahul had earlier said how members of the Indian team were prepared to bat at any position asked of them. Thus, it is important to have an array of shots to be able to do so. In an age where T20 cricket has a huge impact on the 50-over format, Rahul stresses the need to a 360-degree cricketer.
“The dynamic side of my game is hitting the ball for sixes, reverse-sweep, scoop, which is so important to have in your game right now. The bowlers know my strength now, so they will never bowl in that area. Bowlers will keep bowling in the area where you are uncomfortable. So one has to keep coming up with new shots, new ways to tackle bowlers. Last 4-5 years, I have worked on it. I have practised for it, be it scoop shot, coming in line of the ball and flicking it,” the Karnataka batsman said.
Rahul may have sealed a place in the Indian team but he is yet to cement it. The likes of Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik are waiting in the wings to pounce on any slip-ups from the 27-year-old. However, Rahul is foccused on the team and believes the group can have a good World Cup in England and Wales.
“We all are positive, everybody in the IPL was in very good form and we had a great run with the Indian team in the last two-three years. The team is looking good and everybody is confident,” he said.
India play their opening game of the 2019 World Cup against South Africa on June 5 before facing fellow contenders Australia three days later.
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