Eng vs Ind: KL Rahul 'focused' on giving visiting side good start in Test series
Aug 08, 2021
Nottingham [UK], August 8 : India batsman KL Rahul is looking to make the most of opportunities after performing well in the first Test against England.
The first Test between England and India ended in a draw after Day five of the match was abandoned due to rain on Sunday.
But Rahul played an important knock for India as he scored a valiant 84 in the first innings. The right-handed batsman might have got out cheaply in the second innings but he wants to give good starts to the visiting side in the upcoming games.
"It's just one match now. Yes, I batted well, it was good to be in the middle. It's been a long time since I played red-ball cricket, yes so quite happy to be back in the Test team and I want to make my opportunities count. It's important in English condition to give openers a good start, so I am really focusing on doing that for my side," said Rahul while replying to a query from ANI.
Before this game, Rahul had played his last Test back in 2019 against West Indies. During India's tour of England in 2018, Rahul had played a knock of 149 at The Oval and this knock had come on the back of some poor scores in the earlier Tests.
"Batting in England is a lot of fun. As a batsman if you are in that mind space to go and enjoy in the middle, it's a great place to bat," said Rahul
"Last time, unfortunately, I didn't score much in the last series but I took a lot of learnings from the series and come here to perform well. I want to give my side a good start and score lots of runs in the series be it opening the batting or be it middle order," he added.
Rahul was all praise for the Indian bowlers who dismantled the England batsman before rain washed out day five as the match ended in a draw.
"The way we bowled in the first innings especially after losing the toss it was a disciplined show by our bowlers. Shami and Bumrah started the Shardul and Siraj continued," said Rahul
"All of them worked together and bowled in the right channel. The way they stuck to the plans was great to see and we got our rewards," he added.
The action moves to Lord's for the second match which gets underway from Thursday.
