New Chandigarh, June 7: Indian opener KL Rahul has stated that he did not intentionally restrain his natural stroke play while transitioning from T20 to Test cricket. This mindset aided him in scoring a century on the first day of the solitary Test against Afghanistan.
After the day’s play, Rahul remarked, “Sometimes you overanalyze and try to play completely differently from T20 cricket. I consciously aimed not to hold back my shots but to understand which types of shots I could play against the bowlers on this wicket.”
He added, “Maintaining a balance between aggressive thinking and discipline suitable for Test matches was crucial for my preparation. This is something I contemplated last week before this Test match. I tried to implement that. In the morning, I felt I played a few shots too many, but I wasn’t angry with myself.”
The right-handed batsman expressed, “I had no issues playing shots according to the merit of the ball. That’s what I was trying to do more. I’m genuinely pleased that after the IPL, I had some time to transition from T20 mode to the Test cricket mindset.”
Regarding the pitch, Rahul commented, “It didn’t look good at all. It was indeed a very slow and low wicket, as we had anticipated. We trained here for a few days, and it was pretty much as expected. I had to get used to spending time in the middle and letting the ball come to me. The days spent here really helped, and I continued that training in the game, enjoying playing some good old Test cricket.”
On the first day of the Test match that began on Saturday, India won the toss and batted first, scoring 368 runs for the loss of three wickets. KL Rahul scored 100 runs, marking his 12th Test century. Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant were also at the crease, contributing 103 and 50 runs, respectively.
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