On Thursday, India opener KL Rahul revealed that he has been focussing on the South Africa tour even while playing against Sri Lanka recently. The lack of practice games before the start of the grueling tour prompted him to request the curator at Bangalore to prepare wickets that are similar to South Africa.
Rahul acknowledged the task at hand as prepares to take on Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, and Vernon Philander. As per the reports in the Indian Express, he said, “Whenever I got the time, I have prepared to keep the South Africa series in mind rather than the Sri Lanka one that came first. I’ve been practicing against the bouncing ball; they are the No 1 bowling attack in the world.”
He further elaborated, “They have different skills, they have swing and bounce. They are the best side at home and it will be challenging for a guy like me, who is traveling to South Africa for the first time. The conditions will be what I have not faced before. You take some time to adjust to the conditions, but once I do, I think I’ll enjoy the high-quality fast bowling.”
Rahul says he had done some hard preparations to face the mighty Proteas, which included stepping out early in the morning for practice and playing on grassy wickets. He explained, “I made him leave a lot of grass, make the wicket spongy and also leave a little moisture so that the ball does a bit. My sessions were early in the morning too, for good measure. You can replicate the conditions somewhat but never the quality of bowling you’ll have to contend with at international level.”
The young opener his looking to cement his place in the Test team after being ignored for the limited overs series against South Africa. Talking about survival against the South African pace battery, Rahul said, “On Indian wickets, especially since we’re going from having played the shorter formats, pitches don’t do much, so you can stand and play a lot of shots. Once you go there, there will be a lot of seam movement. You will have to leave a lot of balls, especially against the new ball, and be selective in your strokes. You have to give yourself some time to get set.”
