"Enjoyed batting in top-order but..." - KL Rahul's colossal statement after taking middle-order role

Indian middle-order batter KL Rahul played a splendid knock of 86 off 123 balls on day 2 of the first Test against England in Hyderabad. India having resumed the day on 119/1 went on to score 421/7 in 110 0vers.

India are now leading by 175 runs at the end of the second day’s play and scored 302 runs at the loss of six wickets in the day’s play. Almost every Indian batter barring Ravichandran Ashwin got starts.

Rahul added key partnerships with Shubman Gill (23) and Shreyas Iyer (35). He was the fifth wicket to fall for India on the team score of 288. KS Bharat (35) then added a 68-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja. Bharat and Ashwin were dismissed in quick succession after which Axar Patel (25*) added an unbeaten stand of 63 off 117 balls with Jadeja who is unbeaten on 81.

Also Read: IND vs ENG scorecard, 1st Test, Day 2 highlights: Ravindra Jadeja, KL Rahul help India take a lead of 175

Rahul after the end of the day’s play spoke about India’s position in the Test match, the pitch, and what to expect from India in the remaining three days. He started by speaking about him batting in the middle order.

“Enjoying batting in the middle-order. I did enjoy batting in the top-order for a long time, but here you get some time to put your feet up, watch as to how the ball is doing, what the bowlers are doing and it gives time to plan your innings” said Rahul.

Pitch Became Slower As The Ball Went Old: KL Rahul

He then spoke about his knock on day 2 where he looked at ease against all the England bowlers and played them with aplomb. He also added how the pitch behaved during the day’s play.

“The aim was to stay positive when I went out to bat. Very different to that of South Africa (on the pitch) – a bit of turn, it became slower and slower as the ball went old. Was a challenge, I had to wait for my opportunity to play shots” added Rahul.

It was another tiring day for the England bowlers who had to work hard to get the Indian wickets. Jack Leach the most experienced England spinner in this attack was not used too much with the ball. Stokes encouraged the inexperienced spinners Rehan Ahmed and Tim Hartley to do much of the bowling. Hartley bowled 25 overs and gave away 131 runs while Rehan gave away 105 runs in 23 overs.

He concluded by speaking about India’s plans for the remaining three days of the Test match. He said the team plan was to muster as many runs as possible on the second day.

“It’s only the second day, we just wanted to bat the full day and get as many runs as possible (on the team plan). The chat was to bat as long as possible and everyone to bat and score as many runs as we could” ended Rahul.

The Hyderabad pitch showed spins of turn and bounce with even Joe Root getting the ball to turn and bounce sharply. Team India who will bat last on this wicket will want to get as many runs as possible and possibly bat England out of the game.

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