With Rohit Sharma’s absence, KL Rahul opened the batting alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in the Perth Test. Though he last opened in the format way back in February 2023, he did well once again while opening. Rahul even arrived early to feature in an A game in Australia as well.

“I got told quite early. I missed out in the New Zealand series, I didn’t play the last two games, so I was told to be ready, there might be a chance for me to open the batting so I got enough time to prepare and opening is something that I have done for a long time in my career so I just had to go back and practice it a little bit more and like I said I batted a lot in the top of the order so I know how I need to get my runs and what processes I need to follow. I got enough practice time. I came here early, I played an India A game which helped me to get some time in the middle, we played a few practice games as well so I’ve got a lot of time in the middle so it was good, it helped me in my preparation,” Rahul said.

Switching his batting positions in the format, away from home, helps him to face different challenges. KL Rahul, though, said that those were more mental than technical and that the most important aspect of batting was to ‘manage the first 30-40 balls’, irrespective of the position he bats.

ALSO READ: “Shubman’s captaincy is very good” – Ravi Bishnoi on Shubman Gill

“Luckily for me I batted in different positions, so early on when I was asked to bat in different places it was a bit of a challenge mentally and not so much in terms of technique. Mentally how to play those first 20-25 balls, what shots I can play, how early can I attack, how much do I need to be cautious. So those were the things that were a bit tricky early on but now that I’ve played in ODIs, in Test cricket all over the place, it’s given me a little bit of an idea as to how I need to manage my innings and how I need to start,” he said.

“I feel like it’s just the start that’s important whether I’m batting top of the order or in the middle order, it’s just the start, the first 30-40 balls if I can manage that then everything else starts to seem like it’s regular batting so that’s what I try to focus on,” he added.

With Rohit Sharma joining the team and Shubman Gill regaining full fitness, KL Rahul is likely to bat in the middle order in Perth. He has already been told about it but didn’t share as well.

“I’ve been told, but I’ve also been told not to share it with you. So you’ll have to wait for Day one or maybe when the captain comes here tomorrow,” KL Rahul concluded.