KL Rahul: I am working towards being a better opener

Rahul has copped a fair bit of criticism of late for his strike rate and the stylish batter believes that it is difficult to maintain the same tempo throughout an innings

Numbers can be deceptive and not always tell the whole story, feels Indian vice-captain KL Rahul, whose endeavour ahead of the T20 World Cup is to improve his strike-rate in the powerplay overs. Rahul has copped a fair bit of criticism of late for his strike rate and the stylish batter believes that it is difficult to maintain the same tempo throughout an innings.

“It is something that every player works towards [strike-rate]. No one is perfect. Everyone is working towards something,” said Rahul, who batted at a strike-rate of 122.22 during the Asia Cup in UAE. However, Rahul’s career T20I strike-rate is 140 plus across 61 games, but it is primarily because he makes it up during the back-10 of an innings. “Strike-rates are taken on an overall basis,” he said and the gave his rationale behind the argument.

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“You never see that a batter has played at a certain strike-rate [throughout]. Whether it was important for him to play at a strike-rate of 200 or whether the team could have still won with the batter playing at 100 or 120, these things are not always analysed. So when you look at [overall], it looks slow,” Rahul said. But Rahul is working on his strike-rate. “It is something I am working on. Obviously, the goals have been defined to each player in the last 10-12 months. Everyone has a clear understanding as to what is expected out of him. I am just working towards how can I better myself as an opening batter,” said the India vice-captain ahead of first T20 against Australia.

Rahul is happy to be a part of a dressing room that allows players to learn from their mistakes. “The most important thing for the player in the room is what captain and coach and teammates think of him and we know what is expected out of each person. Everyone is trying to give best not every time a player will succeed. “We have created an environment where players are not afraid to fail or not afraid to make mistakes. Even if mistakes happen this is what we do. We work the hardest for this.”

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