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Rahul: 'No one is perfect; strike rate is something I am working at'

sage

By sage
in Cricket Talk

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sage Grand Master

sage

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https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ind-vs-aus-2022-1st-t20i-kl-rahul-no-one-is-perfect-strike-rate-is-something-i-am-working-at-1335562

 

 

KL Rahul is working on his strike rate, but also feels his detractors are perhaps not the best informed.

"The most important thing for the player in the dressing room is what his captain, what his coach, and what his players think of him"

 

"Look, [it's] obviously something that every player works towards," Rahul said on the eve of the first T20I against Australia, the penultimate series for India before they go to the T20 World Cup. "No one is perfect. No one in that dressing room is perfect. Everyone is working towards something. Everyone has a certain role to do. Obviously, strike rates are taken at an overall basis. You never see when that batsman has played at a certain strike rate, whether it was important for him to play at 200 strike rate or if the team could have still won playing at 100-120 strike rate. So these are the things that not everybody analyses. Or if you look at it, it looks slow.

 

"Yes, it is something that I am working at. Obviously, the roles that have been defined to each player in the last 10-12 months have been very clear. And the player understands what is expected of him, and the player is working towards it. Obviously, I am just working towards how I can better myself as an opening batter, and see how I can have the most impact for my team whenever I go out to play in the middle."

 

 

Strike rate has been the dartboard on Rahul's back ever since he said strike rates, when taken out of context, were over-rated. It is natural to expect him to be a little defensive about it. When he was asked the question about the criticism he has faced, he asked the reporter to be specific, which would suggest that he felt the criticism was unfair. However, within the team, the leadership group has thrown its weight firmly behind Rahul, saying he would play in the World Cup, and he would open.

 

"When he [the other reporter] asked about criticism, that is why I asked what particularly," Rahul said about constant criticism from outside and unequivocal support from within the team. "Because we keep getting criticised for a lot of things. But the most important thing for the player in the dressing room is what his captain, what his coach, and what his players think of him.

 

"And only we know what role is expected of each person. Everyone is trying to give their best, and not every time will a player succeed. And that is the kind of environment we have created, that players are not afraid to play, or players are not afraid to make mistakes. This is what we do. We work the hardest for this, right? Everybody can criticise, but we criticise ourselves more than any of you do. For us, this is what we have dreamt of doing. We are representing our country. We want to win games, we want to win the World Cup, all of that is on our mind. And when we don't do well, it hurts us the most.
 

 

The strike-rate debate doesn't often come up when chasing, but when batting first, when teams can leave runs out in the middle. Especially in conditions where batting second becomes easier. Rahul was asked how he approached batting first.

 

"It's T20 cricket, and the more you play and the more the game has evolved, batting first or batting second, any stage of the game, you have to be aggressive. You have to be in the mindset where you are looking to hit boundaries," Rahul said. "It is the same thing with me when I go to open the batting. When you are batting first, you want to give yourself three or four balls to understand how the pitch is behaving. And then try and see how you can put bowlers under pressure, how you can utilise the powerplay, get your teams off to a good start.

 

"These are things that run in your mind, you speak to your partner, you help each other out. You have discussion about the pitch, what are the shots you can play, what are the areas you can target, these are some things that you speak to each other, and you come up with a plan."
 
putrevus Grand Master

putrevus

Posted
Posted

He should not be opening the innings with this attitude. His SR has been in decline every year he has been in international cricket.

 

He has become very overrrated cricketer who has been not only given chances in all formats but somehow is thought as a successful test opener.

IndianRenegade Grand Master

IndianRenegade

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, putrevus said:

He should not be opening the innings with this attitude. His SR has been in decline every year he has been in international cricket.

 

He has become very overrrated cricketer who has been not only given chances in all formats but somehow is thought as a successful test opener.

He can't play in any position other than opening with the strike rate, at least at the top if Rohit plays aggressively we should be fine, the problem is when they both start tuk tuking together. In the middle order unless we lose early wickets he has to come in & start hitting from the get go. 

BacktoCricaddict Grand Master

BacktoCricaddict

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Is the highest level (playing for India) the place to work things out?  Shouldn't these guys get their arrses to domestics, work things out there and re-compete for a spot on the national team when they have?  Like Prithvi Shaw.  Like Shubman Gill.  Like Natarajan.  Like Sundar. 

putrevus Grand Master

putrevus

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, IndianRenegade said:

He can't play in any position other than opening with the strike rate, at least at the top if Rohit plays aggressively we should be fine, the problem is when they both start tuk tuking together. In the middle order unless we lose early wickets he has to come in & start hitting from the get go. 

Then he should not be in the team.He is getting Rohit or Kohli treatment when he does not deserve it. 2018 is the last time he was good in t20s.Since then it has been downhill.

straighttalk Mentor

straighttalk

Posted
Posted

Kohli said he needs 15 balls and he was trying to hit from word go. Kela can't hit from word go. So basically two players will waste 30 balls for 30 runs. What they seem to say is that in next 30 balls they will recover. They are wasting 30 balls in power play. Any other player can also hit after getting settled. Instead if India was 60 for 2 after 6 overs..it is better than 40 for 0.

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