KL Rahul on Sunday revealed that the Indian team management which is headed by Rahul Dravid has asked him to be "ready to keep wickets and bat in middle-order" in ODIs going ahead.
Rahul has kept wickets and batted in the middle-order in some games in 2021 and also in the first ODI against Bangladesh of the three-match series.
In the match that India lost by 1 wicket, Rahul did don the big gloves after Rishabh Pant was rested from the ODI series on the medical team's advice.
"We haven't played a lot of ODIs in the last 8-9 months but if you look at 2020-21, I have kept wickets, and I have batted at Nos 4 and 5. This is the role that team has asked me to be ready for in white ball cricket as I have done it before," Rahul replied when asked about Pant's absence.
Rishabh Pant vs KL Rahul, Here's look at their performances in ODIs for the year 2022:
- Matches played: Pant - 12, Rahul - 8
- Runs scored: pant - 336, Rahul - 229
- 100s: Pant - 1, Rahul - 0
- 50s: Pant - 2, Rahul - 2
- Highest Score: Pant - 125 , Rahul - 73
- Strike-Rate: Pant - 96.55, Rahul - 83.27
Rahul dropped an aerial catch of Player of the Match Mehidy Hasan Miraj, which could have ensured victory for the men in blue. However, he also contributed 73 runs for Team India.
Rahul didn't clarify whether Pant was rested because of workload management or due to some niggle.
"When it comes to Rishabh, I am not sure, to be honest, just found out today, that he is going to be released. What the reasons are, the medical team will be in a better situation to answer those questions.
Rahul didn't feel that either batters or bowlers should be held responsible for this defeat.
"That's cricket, right? You have to expect the unexpected. As long as cricket has been played, these kinds of things keep happening. They fought very well till the end and a couple of dropped catches and that innings from Mehidy."
He was personally satisfied after scoring runs on a tricky wicket.
"One of those days where it looked like I was timing the ball better (than others). The shots I picked, fortunately, went to the boundary, every option that I picked went my way," he said.
"Such innings give you joy as a batter as you are challenged and you put your hand up when the team requires. Ideally, we should have got 40 runs more. I did fancy 230-240 if I batted till the end or even if I could have batted till 40th over."
(Inputs from PTI)
