KL Rahul Has To Understand How The Middle Overs Go: Manish Pandey
Sep 2, 2017 at 2:59 PM
With KL Rahul failing to make his chances in One-Day Internationals count, Manish Pandey has leapt to the defence of his Karnataka teammate.
Rahul entered the series on the back of eight consecutive half-centuries in Tests and with Yuvraj Singh not a part of the team for the ongoing series in Sri Lanka, he was given the responsibility of batting at number 4. However, he has failed to justify the decision so far. In the three games he has batted in so far, he has scored 4, 17 and 7 and with pressure mounting on the Test opener, Manish Pandey has come out in his defence. But at the same time, Pandey insisted that it is up to Rahul on how he adapts to his new batting position.
“Rahul is used to batting in the top order and the game is a little different there. It is on him to come out of this situation again, he has to understand maybe how the middle overs go because he always opens the batting and suddenly you are batting after 30 overs,” Pandey told The Hindustan Times.
“You need some time. Maybe as many more matches guys play, he will get used to it. Even I was feeling difficult batting at No 6; batting used to come after 40 overs and I was used to batting at No 4 when batting comes after 25 overs,” he added. “So it always takes time. And the faster you learn the better batsman you become. I think that’s what I have done.”
Meanwhile, unlike Rahul, Pandey has grabbed his opportunity with both the hands. After not getting a place in the playing eleven for the first three games, he scored a brilliant 50 not out in the fourth ODI. Pandey, however, was asked to bat at number six instead of number 4 where he usually bats. When enquired about that, he said:
“I have to be ready for whatever spot I get. So, if I get a chance then I need to get some runs and cement that spot. And then if you keep performing and you keep playing better, maybe you come one up in the order. So that will be my goal – to fix a spot or two for myself and stay there and win games for India.”