Changing positions no longer a mental challenge, can bat anywhere: Rahul

PTI, Dec 4, 2024, 11:18 AM IST

Senior India batter K L Rahul on Wednesday said that he has overcome the “mental challenge” of being a floater in the line-up, which has made him confident about doing well for the side at any position.

Rahul was superb in the first Test against Australia in Perth with scores of 26 and 77 while opening the innings in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who was on a paternity break.

With Rohit walking back into the playing eleven for the day-night Test starting Friday, Rahul was asked the obvious question about his batting position.

“Anything (opening or middle order),” the 32-year-old batter told reporters ahead of India’s training session here.

“I just want to be in the playing XI, which means wherever. You go there and bat and play for the team,” said the batter with 3000 plus runs in 54 Tests.

Rahul started his Test career in Australia exactly a decade back as a middle-order batter, who later opened. His batting slot in both the Test and ODI set-up was far from steady all these years and this affected him mentally.

“I have batted in many positions. Earlier it was a bit of a challenge, not technically but mentally about how to play those first 20-25 balls,” he opened up about his apprehensions.

“How early can I attack? How much do I need to be cautious? Those were things that were tricky early on.

“But now that I have played in Tests and ODIs all over the place, it has given me an idea of how I want to manage my innings,” said the stylish stroke-maker, who has two hundreds in South Africa, one in Australia and a couple of more in England among his eight Test tons.

In his mind, he has simplified the process of Test batting.

“Whether I am batting top of the order or in the middle order. If I can manage the first 30-40 balls at start, everything then seems like regular batting, that’s what I try to focus on,” he explained.

Rahul revealed that he was told about the prospect of opening in Australia well in advance. The 32-year-old then played the second game of the recent India A series against Australia A to get precious game time.

“I got told quite early as I missed out on the New Zealand (home) series, I didn’t play the last two games, I was told to be ready that there might be a chance to open the batting.

“I got a lot of time to prepare and opening is something I have done a long time in my career. I just had to go back and bat a bit more and as I said, I have batted a lot at the top of the order to know, how to get my runs and what processes I need to follow,” he said.

“I practised enough, I came here early to get some time in the middle. We played some practice games as well and it helped me in my preparation.”