“KL Rahul is a champion player and will continue to bat at the top order with Rohit Sharma” – Virat Kohli 

Despite KL Rahul’s lean form in T20Is, Virat Kohli has called him a 'champion player' and has backed him to be play at the top order alongside Rohit Sharma in the remainder of the T20I series against England.

Despite India’s defeat in the third T20I in Ahmedabad, the Indian captain cited his own example and backed KL Rahul to deliver the goods. KL Rahul was clean bowled by Mark Wood for a duck on Tuesday. That marked the third time in his last four T20I innings that KL Rahul failed to open his account.

Nevertheless, in the post-match presentation, Virat Kohli called KL Rahul 'one of the best batters' in T20Is, saying:

“I was going through a lean patch two days back. He (KL Rahul) is a champion player, and he will continue to be one of our main batters along with Rohit Sharma. Before this (lean patch), if you see the numbers, he has been one of the best T20I batters in the world. T20 is an instinctive game, and it’s just a matter of five or six balls, and once a few shots come off…”

KL Rahul ended 2020 as the second-highest run-getter in T20Is. He scored 404 runs at an average of 44.88 and a strike-rate of 140.8 and won the Orange Cap in IPL 2020 after scoring 670 runs at 55.83. Ranked no. 3 in the ICC T20I ranking for batsmen, KL Rahul is also India’s top-ranked batsman in the format.

KL Rahul is the FIRST ever Indian cricketer to score ducks in consecutive T20I innings while opening the batting.#INDvENG

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) March 16, 2021

Don’t want to play knocks that don’t help the team: Virat Kohli

After a lean patch, Virat Kohli found form, scoring consecutive half-centuries. His 49-ball 73 on Sunday helped India level the series. On Tuesday, though, he played a lone hand, scoring an unbeaten 46-ball 77 to guide India to a respectable 156. However, owing to Jos Buttler's heroics, that total proved to be inadequate.

When asked if he patted himself on the back after his stupendous innings, Virat Kohli brushed aside his personal milestone, saying that he doesn’t care about knocks that don’t help his side win. Virat Kohli said in this regard:

“If that (my innings) helps the team, then for sure, (I'm happy with my innings). You don’t want to play knocks that don’t help the team in any way.”

With England taking a 2-1 lead in the series, the two sides will lock horns in the fourth T20I on Thursday.