“Our confidence is in Surya till Hardik comes back” - KL Rahul

Team India batter KL Rahul confirmed that all-rounder Hardik Pandya will miss the 2023 World Cup match against England in Lucknow on Sunday as he continues to recover from a left ankle injury. He also backed Suryakumar Yadav to do a good job in Pandya’s absence.

Pandya hurt his ankle while trying to stop a stroke with his leg in his follow-through during India’s match against Bangladesh in Pune. He then missed the World Cup clash against New Zealand in Dharamsala on October 22. Replacing the all-rounder, Suryakumar was run out for 2 after a mix-up with Virat Kohli.

At a pre-match conference, Rahul opened up on the team’s thoughts in Pandya’s absence and said:

"Hardik has been a very important member of the team .. so not having him is also a bit of a miss for the team. Surya will probably get his chance and we know what he can do. So our confidence is in Surya till Hardik comes back.”

India are the only side to have not lost a single match in the 2023 World Cup, having won five out of five. On the other hand, defending champions England are languishing at the bottom of the points table with four losses from five matches. Rahul, though, stated that India wouldn’t be taking England lightly.

"They're still a dangerous team. We'll not go by what has happened with them in the last few games. We'll focus on tomorrow [Sunday]," he commented.

England went down to Sri Lanka by eight wickets in their previous match after folding up for 156.

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“It'll be a great opportunity if we get to bat first” - Rahul

Interestingly, all of India’s wins in the ongoing World Cup have come while chasing. The 31-year-old admitted that batting first in some of the remaining league games would be a good challenge for them.

"It'll be a great opportunity if we get to bat first before the next stage. In the next four games if we can get to bat first it'll be a good challenge for us to just see how to pace the innings and it's been some time since we've batted first," he said.

Asked about how India have managed to be so consistent in the competition, the keeper-batter attributed it to preparations and their aggressive mindset.

"I think it's just how we've been really aggressive. And also, our preparations have been really, really good, and very particular, very spot on from the time at least I've come back into the team since the Asia Cup," Rahul said.

"I think the players have gotten enough chances and enough time in their particular role. So, yeah, that again, I think goes down to preparation. We've prepared really well. So that's where the confidence is coming from," he concluded.

The middle-order batter has registered scores of 97*, 19*, 34*, and 27 in the four innings he has played so far.