With regular captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Shreyas Iyer unavailable, KL Rahul will lead India in the ODI series against South Africa. Speaking on the eve of the opening match at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi, the keeper-batter clarified that he will continue to bat at number six, a position he cemented during the Champions Trophy earlier this year.
In 2024, Rahul has batted at six in 10 of the 11 ODIs he has played, scoring 243 runs at an average of 40.50 and a strike rate of 94.18. Although his numbers at number five are stronger, the team management has continued to back him as a finisher, even if the reasoning behind the move remains unclear. However, Rahul added that while the final XI is still to be decided, his spot at number six is assured.
“The exact eleven is not finalised yet, but I will be batting in the same position. I have been playing at number six since the Champions Trophy, so I will be batting there. And obviously, we have all-rounders like Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Reddy — all these options are available to us. We will see what the best eleven is and make that decision in the evening, and you’ll know tomorrow,” Rahul said in the pre-match press conference.
Rahul talks about reaching out to former players on how to tackle spin
India suffered a humiliating 2-0 Test series defeat to South Africa, which put the management and the senior players under immense scrutiny. The players failed to tackle spin and that is one area that Rahul addressed to improve. He spoke about reaching out to former players for help as Rahul revealed that the current batch doesn’t know where they are going wrong.
“We obviously haven’t played spin well in the last one or two series, and we understand that. We recognise that this is a part of our game. For the batsmen, it is important to acknowledge and realise that we haven’t been performing well against spin. Earlier we used to play spin very well, so maybe we will reach out to those players and our seniors and try to learn from them as well. Your performance has also improved a lot,” Rahul said.