"Sometimes I'm sitting there thinking what more can I do" - KL Rahul on his ODI spot being constantly under the scanner

Team India keeper-batter KL Rahul has hinted that he does get frustrated at times with the fact that his place in the one-day team is constantly under the scanner despite his impressive record in the format. He explained that since the ODI series are usually held in a gap of four to five months, people tend to forget his contribution.

India beat Australia by four wickets in the 2025 Champions Trophy semifinal in Dubai on Tuesday, March 4. Chasing a target of 265, Virat Kohli anchored the chase with 84 off 98 balls, while Rahul chipped in with a crucial 42* off 34. The right-hander has been batting at No. 6 in the Champions Trophy, with the left-handed Axar Patel being promoted to the No. 5.

Speaking to Star Sports after India confirmed their place in the 2025 Champions Trophy final, Rahul admitted that being constantly under scrutiny does affect him at times. The Karnataka cricketer said (as quoted by ESPNcricinfo):

"Honestly, I mean it's since I think 2020 I've batted at No.5 and a lot of times people forget that that's where I've been batting. And every time I perform in a series and then there's a break from ODI series, ODI cricket and then we come back after four or five months there's a question mark again about 'oh well will he play in the XI, where does he fit' and sometimes I'm sitting there thinking what more can I do.

"Everywhere that I've been asked to play I've played and I feel like I have performed my role. Whatever's been told to me by Rohit [Sharma], Rohit's been the captain for the last four-five years. And whatever he's told me I feel like I've done that to the best of my ability. And I know that Rohit feels the same and he's always supported me and backed me with that," the 32-year-old added.

Rahul struck two fours and two sixes in his brisk knock against Australia on Tuesday. The right-handed batter brought up the winning runs in style, launching Glenn Maxwell into the stands for a maximum.

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"I told him that you're the batter that needs to go on" - KL Rahul on his on-field chat with Virat Kohli

During India's chase of 265, Rahul and Kohli shared a crucial fifth-wicket alliance of 47 runs. It was a crucial stand after Nathan Ellis had knocked over Axar Patel (27). Rahul was the aggressor during the partnership, while Kohli rotated the strike until the latter played a false stroke to lose his wicket. Asked about his interaction with Kohli during their stand, the Karnataka batter explained:

"When I walked in and when I played 10-12 balls I told him that you're the batter that needs to go on and be there till the end. And let me try and hit or let me try and take one chance an over. Because like you said we only needed 6 runs and over. But 6 runs and over on that wicket seemed like 8-8.5. So, you had to take one chance and over, one boundary or one six.

"So, I told him that I will do that and why don't you just rotate the strike and be there because you're the set batter and it might be harder. If you get out another set batter comes it becomes a lot more harder. But yeah, he felt like it was in his range to hit and yeah he didn't time it well," Rahul added.

In 84 ODIs so far, Rahul has scored 3,009 runs at an average of 48.53 and a strike rate of 88.03, with seven hundreds and 18 half-centuries.