KL Rahul will continue to keep wickets and bat in the middle order for India in the ODI series against New Zealand. © AFP
India captain Virat Kohli has confirmed that KL Rahul will bat in the middle-order and keep wickets in the ODI series against New Zealand starting in Hamilton on Wednesday, effectively confirming the ODI debuts of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.
The in-form Rahul's role as keeper-batsman has been a central theme to India's white-ball narrative over the last two series, more so in the context of how the management's decision affects the prodigious Rishabh Pant.
Rahul kept wickets and batted in the middle-order at Rajkot last month after Pant was concussed in an earlier game in Mumbai. The Karnataka man impressed with his glovework and displayed a new dimension to his batting, scoring a match-winning 52-ball 80 as a finisher. That coupled with Pant's erratic form meant India retained Rahul as the gloveman for the decider in Bengaluru even though Pant had recovered from his concussion.
Rahul, who opened the batting in Bengaluru once again to fill in for the injured Shikhar Dhawan, would have been a natural choice to take up one of the opening slots vacated by the injured Rohit and Dhawan, but Kohli stated that the team management was determined to try Rahul in the middle-order, for long India's pain point in the 50-over format.
"We are looking to stick to the same plan. KL will bat in the middle-order. We want him to get accustomed to that role and keep as well," Kohli said at his pre-match press conference.
"We understand it's an unfortunate situation that Rohit can't be a part of this series. When you talk about one-day cricket and T20 cricket and Test cricket now, he's one guy who's always on the list first. The impact he's had is there for everyone to see. But the thing is that we don't have any one-day tournaments to look forward to. It's, if, anything an ideal time for him to go away and rectify this as soon as he can and come back.
"He played the T20I series, so from the team's balance point of view heading into the World Cup year, it doesn't really hamper the combination as far as the T20s are concerned. And in one-day cricket, whoever steps in for him. Prithvi's definitely going to start and whoever the replacement - Agarwal - is, we'll ask for an opener."
Kohli brushed suggestions of the team using the three one-dayers to further their preparations for the T20 World Cup scheduled for later this year in Australia, stating that it is important to create good habits for each format.
"We have had five T20s already, it's not that we don't have a lot fo T20 cricket. We have IPL as well which is going to be a month and a half of T20 cricket. So we will probably utilise that, I think, because last year you did not have much opportunity to prepare yourselves apart from the games that were in front of you but T20s is very different, as I said. IPL is probably the most competitive tournament you can ask for as a collective and guys will look to get into that frame of mind in that tournament and not this early in a 50-over format because you don't want to play in a different manner.
"You have to respect the format, you have to play according to the pace of the 50-over game and as I spoke of the combination as well, someone like Rahul playing in the middle order, it's about guys getting settled in their roles and repeating that game after game so that they know 'I played this in this format, I have to play this in T20s or similarly in Test cricket'. These things are all about creating good habits for different formats and then being able to switch between them. So no, we are not looking at this series as preparation for T20 World Cup. IPL is going to be the right platform for that," Kohli said.
One aspect of the game that transcends these two white-ball formats, however, is fielding, something the Indian captain said his team was looking to address following a string of below-par performances, replete with dropped catches and fumbles, since the start of the home season in October. Kohli laid down the marker for his team to field "way better" than what they've been doing so far.
"We definitely have recognised it as something that, if you look at the average age of this team, it's 27 max. So we should be fielding way better than what we have. I think the standards of fielding overall were not that good from either side. T20 cricket it can happen because the game is so fast-paced," Kohi said. "So once you get into a nervous zone, it's very difficult to get out of it. It's moving so quickly and the ball keeps coming to you.
"Even in one-day cricket, we have had performances that we are not proud of and there's no hiding from it. We've spoken about it so many times. You certainly expect a young bunch of guys who are very fit and very, very good fielders to do the job for you in the field collectively and not just focus on batting or bowling. It's about taking all three skills seriously and committing to it like bowling or batting. With fielding it's not a matter of execution or result immediately. Things can be taken for granted. That's something that we want to stay away from. The team's heading in the right direction, whatever is lacking we need to be able to correct and move forward."
India captain Virat Kohli has confirmed that KL Rahul will bat in the middle-order and keep wickets in the ODI series against New Zealand starting in Hamilton on Wednesday, effectively confirming the ODI debuts of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.
The in-form Rahul's role as keeper-batsman has been a central theme to India's white-ball narrative over the last two series, more so in the context of how the management's decision affects the prodigious Rishabh Pant.
Rahul kept wickets and batted in the middle-order at Rajkot last month after Pant was concussed in an earlier game in Mumbai. The Karnataka man impressed with his glovework and displayed a new dimension to his batting, scoring a match-winning 52-ball 80 as a finisher. That coupled with Pant's erratic form meant India retained Rahul as the gloveman for the decider in Bengaluru even though Pant had recovered from his concussion.
Rahul, who opened the batting in Bengaluru once again to fill in for the injured Shikhar Dhawan, would have been a natural choice to take up one of the opening slots vacated by the injured Rohit and Dhawan, but Kohli stated that the team management was determined to try Rahul in the middle-order, for long India's pain point in the 50-over format.
"We are looking to stick to the same plan. KL will bat in the middle-order. We want him to get accustomed to that role and keep as well," Kohli said at his pre-match press conference.
"We understand it's an unfortunate situation that Rohit can't be a part of this series. When you talk about one-day cricket and T20 cricket and Test cricket now, he's one guy who's always on the list first. The impact he's had is there for everyone to see. But the thing is that we don't have any one-day tournaments to look forward to. It's, if, anything an ideal time for him to go away and rectify this as soon as he can and come back.
"He played the T20I series, so from the team's balance point of view heading into the World Cup year, it doesn't really hamper the combination as far as the T20s are concerned. And in one-day cricket, whoever steps in for him. Prithvi's definitely going to start and whoever the replacement - Agarwal - is, we'll ask for an opener."
Kohli brushed suggestions of the team using the three one-dayers to further their preparations for the T20 World Cup scheduled for later this year in Australia, stating that it is important to create good habits for each format.
"We have had five T20s already, it's not that we don't have a lot fo T20 cricket. We have IPL as well which is going to be a month and a half of T20 cricket. So we will probably utilise that, I think, because last year you did not have much opportunity to prepare yourselves apart from the games that were in front of you but T20s is very different, as I said. IPL is probably the most competitive tournament you can ask for as a collective and guys will look to get into that frame of mind in that tournament and not this early in a 50-over format because you don't want to play in a different manner.
"You have to respect the format, you have to play according to the pace of the 50-over game and as I spoke of the combination as well, someone like Rahul playing in the middle order, it's about guys getting settled in their roles and repeating that game after game so that they know 'I played this in this format, I have to play this in T20s or similarly in Test cricket'. These things are all about creating good habits for different formats and then being able to switch between them. So no, we are not looking at this series as preparation for T20 World Cup. IPL is going to be the right platform for that," Kohli said.
One aspect of the game that transcends these two white-ball formats, however, is fielding, something the Indian captain said his team was looking to address following a string of below-par performances, replete with dropped catches and fumbles, since the start of the home season in October. Kohli laid down the marker for his team to field "way better" than what they've been doing so far.
"We definitely have recognised it as something that, if you look at the average age of this team, it's 27 max. So we should be fielding way better than what we have. I think the standards of fielding overall were not that good from either side. T20 cricket it can happen because the game is so fast-paced," Kohi said. "So once you get into a nervous zone, it's very difficult to get out of it. It's moving so quickly and the ball keeps coming to you.
"Even in one-day cricket, we have had performances that we are not proud of and there's no hiding from it. We've spoken about it so many times. You certainly expect a young bunch of guys who are very fit and very, very good fielders to do the job for you in the field collectively and not just focus on batting or bowling. It's about taking all three skills seriously and committing to it like bowling or batting. With fielding it's not a matter of execution or result immediately. Things can be taken for granted. That's something that we want to stay away from. The team's heading in the right direction, whatever is lacking we need to be able to correct and move forward."