KL Rahul opens about India’s World Cup preparatory plans

KL Rahul attended his first press conference as ODI captain and was showered with questions about Virat Kohli with the focus of the journalists hardly being on the upcoming encounter between India and South Africa.

However, things won’t be easy for Rahul at all as the first and foremost challenge that the Indian opener will be facing is to replicate the success that Kohli scripted back in 2018 with an impeccable masterclass of his own.

With Rohit Sharma having a handful of years left in his playing tenure, India will be desperately hoping for Rahul to take the nation to new heights. He highlighted the World Cup preparatory plans for India in which he will play a key role.

However, through his words, he hinted at the fact that India will be staring at a lot of experimentations before they step foot in the quadrennial showpiece extravaganza.

Rahul quoted, “This year we will be playing a few one-day series, which will give us a chance to try out new things. We've all sat down as a team and had an honest talk about the things we need to improve and the things that we need to get better at. Everyone is committed to it. We have some ideas, some plans. We want to try out those things in the coming series. That will give us an indication if we're doing it right, whether our strategies and tactics are right. We aren't a team that's scared to try. Our focus will be on the World Cup and getting the best XI on the park."

Despite being the captain, Rahul himself will be a key factor in the experiment with the eyes rotating sharply on Dhawan and Rahul to make the cut for the opening slot alongside Rohit Sharma.

Surprisingly, Rahul has a much better record in the middle order where the stopgap Indian skipper has bolstered the ranks in case of an early collapse. Ever since he has made appearances in that tricky number 4-5, he has averaged 56.08 at the strike rate of 101.81.

The return of Rohit will most likely be demoting Rahul to the middle-order alongside the presence of Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer, or Shreyas Iyer.

Rahul highlighted the ratiocination behind being the stopgap opener for India, as he quoted, “We have to be flexible. One of the talks that we've had is that we don't want to be a team that is very predictable. There might be games where I'll need to bat in the middle order if that's what the team needs. I might have to open the batting, which I'm okay with. There are team plans and strategies. According to that, everyone will have their roles clear but everyone also understands that they will have to be ready for certain things that team wants them to do."

Alongside his batting responsibilities, he will also have to manage a lot of seniors who will have quite a repository of bones to pick. Talking about his leadership philosophy, he quoted, “For me as a leader, it will just be about supporting the guys and keeping the guys in a mindset where they are excited and want to go out there and do special things for the team, for the country.”