Important for me to spend some time in the middle: Rahul

After slotting himself in the middle-order for the first ODI, Indian skipper KL Rahul walked out to bat at the top of the order alongside Shikhar Dhawan during the second ODI. Whilst the move was not surprising, considering that the right-hander has been away from the home for a long time, the move did not work out well for the Men in Blue. 

The right-handed opener was trapped in front early by the Zimbabwean pacer Victor Nyauchi after enduring a nervy start to the run-chase. In the post-match presentation, Rahul admitted that it was important for him to spend some time at the crease while insisting that it was unfortunate that the move did not work out during the second ODI. \On whether he was nervous during the chase) Not really, we do bat deep. Good for some of the guys to get time in the middle. I do need some time in the middle, obviously playing this series was important for me to take some runs and confidence away, unfortunately didn't work out today,” Rahul said during the post-match presentation. 

Rahul also applauded the efforts of the hosts’, stating that they have a pretty good bowling attack. The 30-year-old reckoned that India will go out there with an eye on completing a whitewash over Zimbabwe. 

“They do have some quality bowlers, I saw that in the previous series against Bangladesh as well. The bowlers came strong at us, a good challenge for us. We here to play good cricket and win, every opportunity is an honour so we want to do out there next time also to enjoy ourselves and put a good performance. Wherever we travel, we get good support from Indian fans, very thankful for their support,” he added.

Sanju Samson, won the Player of the match, after his exploits of 39-ball 43 helped India get over the line. The wicketkeeper-batter opined that it was nice to bat out in the middle. He also expressed his delight over keeping and batting for the country. 

“How much ever time you spend in the middle, you do really good. Even more special to do it for the country. I did take three catches, but I missed a stumping. Really enjoying keeping and batting. I think they (Indian bowlers) were bowling really good areas, a lot of balls came nicely to me,” Samson said.