IND vs SA: Bit of instinct, a lot of practice and hard work over the years, says KL Rahul on his innings
India Today
KL Rahul hit his second consecutive half-century in the ongoing T20 series against South Africa. He said that his innings was based on a bit of instinct, a lot of practice and hard work over the years.
KL Rahul silenced his critics with his half-century in the second T20I between India and South Africa in Guwahati on Sunday, October 2.
The 30-year-old top-order batter brought up his second consecutive fifty in the ongoing three-match T20I series. While the first one came off 56 balls, the second one was relatively faster in just 24 balls.
Rahul, who was named Player of the Match in the second T20I, opened up on his innings after India beat South Africa by 16 runs and secured the three-match series.
"It was the demand of the innings. When you're batting first, obviously, you want to you give yourself a couple of overs, try to assess the conditions, see what are the shots you can play and your talk to your partner, you'll see.. sort of give yourself a target as to this might be a par total on this pitch and you try and try and play according to that," Rahul said in press conference.
"We've always tried to be be more aggressive and take a lot of risk and that was what was needed from me today. And I tried to do that and I think it was, you know, I was happy that it came off today.
"You have to try to hit sixes. You have to get yourself in positions where you can try to hit sixes. And I tried to do that and and then react to the ball. And when bowlers are bowling at 145 (kmph), there's not much, there's not much time to see the ball react. You just... it is a bit of instinct and it is a lot of practice and a lot of hard work over the years."
India posted 237/3 after being put in to bat first, with Suryakumar Yadav (61 off 22) leading the batting department. In reply, Quinton de Kock (69* off 48) and David Miller (106* off 47) gave South Africa some hope but eventually fell short as India restricted the visitors to 221/3.
