‘It’s Never Easy’ - KL Rahul On Being Shuffled Across The Batting Order

4, 6, 7, 6, 6, 5, 6. These are not random digits but the batting position of KL Rahul across the last 7 ODIs he’s played.

Rahul has earned the reputation of being the ultimate team man, someone super versatile, but that’s come at a cost as it’s meant that he’s not had stability when it comes to batting position, with him being moved around as per the team’s convenience. 

Ahead of the New Zealand game, the 32-year-old admitted that it’s not easy for any player to be shuffled around so much, but stated that, ultimately, his job is to do what’s best for the team.

“It's never easy for anyone on the team to be moving in different places,” Rahul said.

“But that's how the game goes. Whatever the team thinks is the best possible combination and what they feel is the best entry points for players. You leave it up to the team to decide and you just try and do your job, and that's what I'm focusing on.”

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Going by the last five ODIs India have played, Rahul’s immediate position seems to be No.6, with Axar Patel taking his usual No.5 slot to break the right-hander monotony. 

He revealed that in Dubai, where India have played and will continue to play all their games, the biggest challenge for middle-order batters has been to rotate strike against spin against a slightly older ball, with the surfaces being really slow.

“The challenge like I just said on these wickets have been rotating the strike as soon as you go in against spinners or fast bowlers,” Rahul revealed.

“Once those dot balls start to pile up on a batsman, obviously the pressure builds up and you have to play that big shot or you have to play really short. And that obviously gives the opposition and the bowlers an opportunity. So that has been the challenge.

“But we've all got a little bit of time in the middle. And we're trying to find ways to see how we can rotate the strike a lot more. We're all very happy hitting boundaries and scoring boundaries, but on this wicket that is very difficult. 

“We have to make sure that the dot ball percentage is really less and then the risk that you take, the opportunities that you are going to take is suited for this type of wicket and against a certain bowler. So those are the talks that we are having within the batting group.”

India had a few injury scares in the Pakistan clash, with both Mohammed Shami and skipper Rohit Sharma experiencing some discomfort, but Rahul confirmed that there are no fitness concerns surrounding anyone at the moment.

Further, the 32-year-old claimed that he is not sure if the management will be resting players for Sunday’s clash against New Zealand.

“Yeah, look, luckily I am not in the leadership group to have to make that decision [about resting players],” he said.

“But I am sure there will be some temptation and we have been in these positions before, where, if there is an opportunity, you try out the players who haven't gotten games. But I don't know if that will happen in a Champions Trophy. 

“And I don't know if that will happen in tomorrow's game. Because like you said, we only have one day's break before the semi-finals and we have gotten a six-day break now. So, we probably want all of the players to play the game and get a little bit of time in the middle. And this is my version. I don't know, it might be very different tomorrow.”