World Cup 2019: KL Rahul opens up about not converting starts to big scores

What's the story?

Indian opener KL Rahul recently took part in a press conference, where in he revealed how disappointed he is on throwing away the starts he has constructed in this World Cup so far. The 27-year-old also affirmed that the pressure is much higher in the World Cup as compared to a bilateral series.

The background

KL Rahul emerged as the solution for India's number 4 conundrum in the ODI format. The Karnataka-born batsman had played at number 4 in the games against South Africa and Australia, but an unfortunate injury to regular opener Shikhar Dhawan forced the Indian team management to promote Rahul to his favored opening position.

In the three innings he has featured as an opener, Rahul has mustered scores of 57, 30 and 48 versus Pakistan, Afghanistan and West Indies respectively.

The heart of the matter

Rahul has not been successful in converting his starts into a big score. He expressed his disappointment on the same, remarking:

"After doing the hard work and after getting through the first 10 overs or 15 overs... or as an opening batsmen to get the first 25-30 runs - is the hardest time.

And to do that, and when the time comes to accelerate and maybe take the game deeper so our lower order can come in and play freely... we know when they come after the 35th over or at the 40, they can do maximum damage."

Speaking about India's inability to score in excess of 300 against weaker oppositions like West Indies and Afghanistan, Rahul mentioned that the team cannot always focus on the 300-run mark. He believes that sometimes, the batsmen need to play as per the pitch and it was quite an achievement that the team scored 260+ versus West Indies without a single hundred in the innings.

Comparing the pressure of playing in World Cup matches to that in a bilateral series, Rahul added:

"Look, in One Day Internationals over the years I think we have seen it and you guys have seen that kind of approach because it's bilateral series and it's a different ballgame, and this is a World Cup -- the pressure is really high."

What's next?

Team India will be in action next against the hosts, England on this Sunday. The elegant opener would be hoping to give his side a strong start at the top of the order and register a mammoth score for himself as well.