India vs West Indies 2019: KL Rahul reveals his role is to lay the foundation for other batsmen 

What’s the story?

Indian opener, KL Rahul has given details about his role in the Indian batting line-up, saying that he has to set the foundation for the other batsmen who can later finish the job. Rahul also mentioned that he is not worried about the 2020 T20 World Cup and that he is focusing on the upcoming T20I series.

The background

West Indies posted a mammoth total of 207 runs on the board despite losing the toss in the first T20I against India. Chasing 208, India lost vice-captain Rohit Sharma early. However, KL Rahul stabilized the innings with his knock of 62 runs. He faced 40 deliveries in the middle and hit 5 fours and 4 sixes. The right-handed batsman formed a 100-run partnership for the second wicket with Virat Kohli before Khary Pierre scalped his wicket.

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The heart of the matter

Reflecting on his knock during a chat with Star Sports on Friday (6th December), Rahul said:

“My role is to set the foundation and we have others to do their job later, the finishing job. Today I missed out, but I’ll try to do better in the next match.”

He further talked about the importance of scoring runs in all the formats and added:

“You need runs as a batsman in any format, that is what gives you confidence. The thing that is giving me confidence is winning games (irrespective of the formats). I don’t change my game when I play there (domestic) - that’s how I like to keep it. I like to keep things simple.”

When asked about the T20 World Cup in Australia next year, Rahul disclosed that he is not thinking about the mega-event now. His target is to play well in the upcoming T20 matches.

“It’s a long way, honestly. I’ve got the opportunity to bat at the top of the order again after a couple of series. So (I’m) looking forward to just making the best use of it, Today was a good outing, a good hit in the middle and hopefully I just continue the same thing and not worry about October next year, there’s a lot of games before that.” he said.

What’s next?

KL Rahul will be in action when India meet West Indies in the 2nd T20I match at the Greenfield Stadium this Sunday.