KL Rahul says he is accustomed to batting in different positions in the batting order, especially in white-ball cricket. After being moved to No. 6 in the lineup, he mentioned that he has been focusing more on hitting boundaries.
Rahul admitted to enjoying batting at the top of the order, particularly after his experience opening in Test matches in Australia. He noted the difference between facing the new ball in Test cricket and batting lower down in ODIs. However, he emphasized that he has played most of his white-ball cricket in the middle order for the past few years.
“I’m quite used to going up and down the order,” Rahul stated. He believes this flexibility has helped him better understand his game. He added that he has been working on improving his boundary-hitting ability, especially since he knew he would be batting at No. 6 in ODIs leading up to the Champions Trophy, where the team wanted a left-hander higher in the order.
Regarding his role in the team, Rahul reflected on how since 2020, he has often batted at No. 5 in ODIs and has performed well in that position. He acknowledged that there are often questions about his place in the team when he returns after breaks from ODI cricket. Despite this, he feels he has consistently performed the roles asked of him and has the backing of captain Rohit Sharma.
In the recent match, Rahul came in to bat at No. 6 and played a crucial innings, scoring an unbeaten 42 off 34 balls to guide India to the final. He discussed his conversation with Virat Kohli during their partnership, where they decided Rahul would take more risks to score boundaries while Kohli, being the set batsman, would focus on rotating the strike and staying till the end.
