KL Rahul had a decent outing in Sri Lanka as the elegant opener scored a ton in the second test, helping India level the series. Rahul, in his short test career so far has already scored two centuries away from home. Ahead of his first home series, against the visiting South African side, Rahul is determined to do well and succeed against the world’s number one ranked side.
Rahul opened up in an interview with TOI and admitted that he was inspired from Virat Kohli. Below, are the excerpts from his interview with the Times of India.
The biggest takeaways from the Australia and Sri Lanka series:
Both were different experiences as we played in different conditions in which I hadn’t played before. In Sri Lanka, if you put your head down and performed you could get runs. I would have wanted to be more consistent. Nevertheless, I learnt from my mistakes and in the end it was a great feeling for us to have won the series. In Australia, we showed a lot of heart and character. Unfortunate the results did not go our way although the intent was good. I also got to play bowlers who I watched and admired on television.
Life as an international cricketer:
After two international centuries, people look at me in a different way. I have become more disciplined and focused. I’m just excited to see how I will end up in my international career which has just started.
Playing a Test series against South Africa at home:
It will be a wonderful experience because these are familiar conditions. But then, it is just .1% different from playing away because it still does not change the fact that you are playing international cricket.
Pressure of playing at home:
I don’t think there will be pressure because I believe if you have to climb the ladder in international cricket you have to learn to soak in the pressure.
On the competition in the team for the openers’ slots:
It will make us individually stronger, push us to work harder and perform at every opportunity given. I’m excited as I’m young and learning from the guys I’m sharing the dressing room with. So whatever opportunity is given to me, I’ll do my best.
Batting with Kohli:
When you are at the non-striker’s end, you have the best seat in the house. He makes batting look so easy. In fact, both my centuries have come when I played with him. We are quick runners, good athletes we love playing our shots, so we enjoy batting with each other and have constant chats in the middle.