India vs Sri Lanka 2017: KL Rahul speaks about not scoring hundreds

Wants to score big centuries

What’s the story?

Indian opener KL Rahul has been in some good run-scoring form in the recent past. With nine half-centuries in the past 11 innings, Rahul has been giving his team the perfect start by not only seeing off the new ball but also scoring at a decent clip, setting the platform perfectly.

However, despite his purple patch, he has not been able to convert these starts into big hundreds, something which has bothered the young man.

“The way we batted on end of the fourth day. Yeah, little disappointed but I’m kinda getting used to not reaching a hundred. It has been the eight or ninth time but it will come when it has to come. Quite honestly, I don’t know how to feel about it because it is better than getting out on the first ball of the match,” said Rahul to BCCI.tv.

The details

Rahul also spoke about the challenges one faces as an opening batsman and said that such is the job that one can expect to get a good ball at any point of time and one has to just accept it and move on.

Apart from this, he also spoke about scoring hundreds and converting starts. However, he said that not scoring hundreds is not a big headache for him as his 50s and 60s are giving the team a good start.

With spots up for grabs at the top of the order, Rahul made it clear that he does not think of competition and does not worry about his place in the side. On the contrary, he believes that competition is healthy and this eggs on the players, ensuring they put their best foot forward.

In case you didn’t know…

After getting an absolute peach in the first innings during the first Test at the Eden Gardens, Rahul looked far more relaxed in the second dig as he scored a very pleasing 79 and forged a 166-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan.

What’s next?

With Dhawan released for the second Test match, Rahul will walk out with Murali Vijay to face the new ball and would look to build on his form from the first match.

The second match is slated to start from November 24 in Nagpur.

Author’s take

There is little doubt over Rahul's potential, but he has to realise that big scores, particularly at the top of the order, are paramount, especially in overseas conditions when, after all the hard work against the new ball, the openers need to go on to build triple-digit scores.