India’s stand-in skipper, for the upcoming three-match series against South Africa in the rainbow nation, KL Rahul on Tuesday has confirmed that he will open the batting in the upcoming series scheduled to be commencing on Wednesday. Rahul, who is set to lead the side in the absence of the injured Rohit Sharma, addressed a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
Talking about the opening place, KL Rahul said: “With no Rohit Sharma, I will bat at the top of the order.” When asked about Test captaincy, “I had not given it a thought till the names came out, till the articles or news have been doing the rounds. Obviously, I had the opportunity to lead the Test side in Johannesburg and it was really special.”
ALSO READ: Rashid Latif Feels Like Indian Players Were Waiting For Virat Kohli To Resign As Captain
He further added, “The result did not go our way but it was a great learning experience for me and it would be something I will always be proud of. Leading the country is always special for anyone and I am no different. Yes, it would be a huge responsibility if given to me (being the Test captain). It is something that is exciting, I am not really looking to anything forward, I am just focusing on the present.”
KL Rahul’s comments come days after Kohli announced his decision to resign as the captain of the Indian Test team.
Virat Kohli holds the record of leading the Indian team for most games (68) and he also holds the record for most Test wins by an Indian captain (40). Only Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, and Steve Waugh have won more matches than Kohli as skippers in Test cricket.
ALSO READ: Urvashi Rautela gives a funny reply to the troll about Rishabh Pant’s ton
Last year, Virat Kohli announced his resignation from the T20I captaincy, and then he was removed as the ODI skipper after the selectors wanted to have just one captain for the white-ball formats.
India ODI squad for South Africa series: KL Rahul (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Jayant Yadav, Navdeep Saini.
