I wanted to spend more time with the bat in the field: KL Rahul

Indian middle-order batter KL Rahul expressed disappointment over the loss in the third One Day International against the West Indies and the team’s failure to complete a series sweep, while stating that he would have preferred to spend more time at the crease.

Speaking on Geo Star’s “Higher Cricket Live,” Rahul detailed his innings and explained why he wanted to spend more time on the field. He said, “I am happy with my 129 runs, but I am disappointed that we could not clean sweep the series. If we had, the level of happiness would have been much higher. Still, I wanted to spend more time with the bat in the field. The last time I got a long stint in the middle order in ODI cricket was in early January this year against New Zealand, and since then, I have not had many opportunities to play long innings. Next year is very important because the World Cup starts in October, so it is essential for me to spend valuable time batting. Off the field, I am trying a few things and want to test them in the game; only then will I know if my behind-the-scenes hard work is paying off or if I need to do something different. Therefore, it was necessary for me to bat for some time, and I am happy about that.”

Regarding the challenges of batting in the middle order, Rahul said, “It is very different, but I have been playing this role for the past six to seven years. In the last year and a half, since the rule change regarding ball replacement, conditions have changed a lot. It has not been easy to score 80–90 runs in the last 10 overs. The ball is reverse swinging, and in this match as well, when the ball became old and soft and started reverse swinging, as a batter, you do not have the confidence to play shots over the long-on and deep mid-wicket fielders, especially when the boundary on that side is large.”

He added, “I have always batted in the top order and prefer a hard ball that comes to me quickly so I can use its pace. That is why I am working on playing with a soft and old ball and attempting to hit sixes off it. This is something I have worked on. I am constantly trying to improve my game, understand my role, and figure out what a number five and number six batter needs to do to provide consistent good performance for the team.”

On the team’s preparation for the 2027 Cricket World Cup and the use of bilateral series to experiment with different players, Rahul said that all series before the World Cup provide a good opportunity to play on the field. He noted that the team does not want to deviate too much from its strategy, but as a batting unit, it also wants to conduct some experiments.

Rahul said, “So far, our target has been to score 330–340 runs while batting first, but we are seeing that 340 and 350 runs are being scored easily in ODI cricket. Therefore, we also need to see how batters can score 370–380 runs while maintaining an aggressive approach once they are set, or even attempt to reach 400 runs on a given day. As middle-order batters, our aim upon coming to the crease is to ensure that we do not take too long to get set, start rotating the strike, and keep hitting boundaries every six or seven balls.”

He further added, “Key players like Bumrah and Axar were not in the team, so we got the opportunity to try out other players. The coach and captain are very clear about which players they want to include in the team. They want to give more opportunities to certain players whom we believe could prove important for the World Cup.”