KL Rahul credits Windies bowlers for their disciplined bowling

After smashing his career-best 158 against West Indies at Jamaica on Sunday, opener KL Rahul expressed his desire to become more consistent across formats. The 24-year-old also played down the discussion about India’s scoring rate and credited the Windies bowlers for their disciplined bowling.

The last four months have seen KL Rahul going from a Test-specialist to a player capable of playing across formats. He followed up his good performances in the IPL and the limited-overs tour to Zimbabwe with a career-best innings of 158 at Jamaica on Sunday. Speaking to reporters after the match, Rahul said that he has been performing consistently in the last four months and is looking to do the same in the coming months.

“Yeah I think, so far it has been really good. The last couple of months, I've been performing well. I've been consistent in all the three formats and that's what I want to do as a cricketer, to be consistent in all the three formats. Go out there, and play to the best of my abilities and play my roles and responsibilities for the team,” Rahul said.

“Right now I'm in a good space. I'm only watching the ball and trying to judge the ball. If I think the ball is there to be hit, I'm hitting the ball. That doesn't change. That's the only thing that doesn't change with T20, One-day or four-day cricket - when the ball is there to be hit, you hit the ball. That's the only thing that runs in my mind. I'm very happy with the space I'm in and the focus levels have been great.

“I'm in great space and overall, the team is feeling very confident and we're loving playing with each other,” the Karnataka lad added.

Although India had a 162-run lead at stumps, the scoring rate of the batsmen came under fire with the away side managing just 2.64 runs an over. But, Rahul believes that the discipline shown by the Windies pacers made it difficult for Indian batsmen to score runs.
"Well look, you probably have to give a little credit to the West Indies bowlers as well," the 24-year-old said. "They came in with a set plan this morning, to keep it tight and not give away easy runs. They tried to bowl the fourth-fifth stump channel. The wicket obviously isn't the easiest to bat on. It is a little spongy sometimes, and two-paced. So you couldn't play through the line or go after the bowlers when they bowled those channels.

"It's a Test match, you have all the time in the world. We have bundled them out for 180 (196), and we still had four days to go. We were in no hurry, so we could take our time and wait for the loose balls. I think we played really well in the first session. We gave the West Indies bowlers and the lengths and lines they were bowling the respect it demanded. At the end of the day, we have still gotten the amount of runs we wanted to get. We are very happy as a batting unit," he said before signing off.

Read more: India takes control on first day against Windies

KL Rahul's career best in second Test against West Indies

Credits: sportscafe.in