Questions were raised regarding their form but Rahul was quick to come to their defence, stating that the two always got the job done.
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Indian opener KL Rahul so far India’s best player at Lord’s. Rahul script history as he scored a brilliant century to get his team off to a very strong start. However, things were not as good for a couple of other Indian players who people expected to do well. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have endured a lean patch. Pujara was dismissed for just 9 runs while Rahane fell for just one. Questions have been raised regarding their form. But Rahul was quick to come to their defence. He stated that the two were fantastic players who always got the job done whenever the team was in a soup.
“Pujara and Ajinkya are fabulous players and have done the job whenever the team was in trouble. I’m sure they are hungry to go out there and score. I’m sure they know how to come out of an innings where they haven’t scored runs. You need to realise that we’re playing in tough conditions in England and know that we’ll keep getting good balls, and it’s not easy to score every time. Once you get a start, you make it count,” KL Rahul said.
There was also talk of Rahul shielding skipper Virat Kohli from facing veteran English pacer James Anderson, but the 29-year-old opener quickly rubbished those claims. “Don’t think I shielded Kohli or need to do it for any of our top-order batsmen. The chat was obviously on commentary, but nothing of that sort happened. He (Kohli) loves a challenge, be it Anderson or anybody. He wants to be in the midst of it and isn’t someone who will shy away from a challenge,” he said.
Speaking about the match, Rahul said that it was still too early to predict a victory for India. He said that their bowlers needed to take early wickets on day 3 to put more pressure on the English batters. “It’s too early to predict (a win). We want to go out there tomorrow [Saturday] and try and get a couple of wickets and put pressure on their batsmen. We need to be disciplined and keep working on our plans,” Rahul said.
He was also frustrated with himself as he got out early on day 2, despite scoring a historic ton on the previous day. “This morning was crucial for us, and I was planning to add 70-80 runs in the morning session. I looked up to myself well last night after being set on 127. So it was frustrating to get out the way I did,” the opener said.
The Indian innings ended on a massive score of 364, but the English batters are not to be taken lightly. England are currently batting at 119 runs for the loss of three wickets. Opener Rory Burns gave them a fantastic start but he was dismissed just one run short of his half-century by Mohammad Shami. Skipper Joe Root also looks in good touch as he is currently unbeaten on 48.
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