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KL Rahul has emerged as a match-winning Test opener for India with his free flowing batting style. Rahul finished the year with a 199 in the Chennai Test win. (Boria Majumdar reviews India's 4-0 Test series win with Ashwin and Ganguly)
He talks to India Today in an exclusive interview looking back at India's unbeaten Test streak, Virat Kohli's captaincy and what lies ahead. (I played a horrible shot and got out on 199: Lokesh Rahul)
Excerpts...
Q. Terrific finish to the year for the Indian Test team, Rahul. 4-0 against an England team that had it's moments in the series.
A. Yes. It's one series we were looking forward to. As a top class team we wanted to prove we can win in all conditions and surfaces. We won without having won tosses. Played against the odds and came back strong. It's was very satisfying for a young team to win with big margins. As the no.1 team this is what is expected from us. We also had great individual performances. (Chennai Test: KL Rahul's 199 scripts India's strong reply to England)
Q. What a phenomenal year and a half this team has had. No Test loss after Galle. Was the defeat to Sri Lanka last year a turning point?
A. Galle Test was the turning point. I remember after the Test we had a long chat where we sat together and discussed a lot of things. We chalked out a lot of things we needed to do to be successful. One was to be transparent and very open about each others thoughts and help each other. We will be faced with difficult situations but important not to get bogged down. To go out and express. We we sure we will play aggressively no matter what the situation. We wanted to be a tough team that would fight till the end.
We have proved in 12-24 months. We have won all and won easily as well despite being challenged. It's a great space to be in for the team. For now it's time to celebrate. We have some time off from Test cricket. When we resume we will look to start playing the same way.
Q. The team also addressed playing spin better. Thats also been an improvement from Galle.
A. A lot of work did go behind playing spin. Honestly we hadn't played spin bowling for the last couple of years, travelling abroad. It took us some time. We decided to be aggressive against spinners. We have grown up playing spin and played it all our lives. So we knew how to play Test bowling. It was just a matter of making the mental switch.
Q. The Chennai Test will be remembered for Karun's 300, Jadeja's 7 wickets and KL Rahul's run he missed that could have got him to 200. It's a cruel game sometimes?
Read more to click here
He talks to India Today in an exclusive interview looking back at India's unbeaten Test streak, Virat Kohli's captaincy and what lies ahead. (I played a horrible shot and got out on 199: Lokesh Rahul)
Excerpts...
Q. Terrific finish to the year for the Indian Test team, Rahul. 4-0 against an England team that had it's moments in the series.
A. Yes. It's one series we were looking forward to. As a top class team we wanted to prove we can win in all conditions and surfaces. We won without having won tosses. Played against the odds and came back strong. It's was very satisfying for a young team to win with big margins. As the no.1 team this is what is expected from us. We also had great individual performances. (Chennai Test: KL Rahul's 199 scripts India's strong reply to England)
Q. What a phenomenal year and a half this team has had. No Test loss after Galle. Was the defeat to Sri Lanka last year a turning point?
A. Galle Test was the turning point. I remember after the Test we had a long chat where we sat together and discussed a lot of things. We chalked out a lot of things we needed to do to be successful. One was to be transparent and very open about each others thoughts and help each other. We will be faced with difficult situations but important not to get bogged down. To go out and express. We we sure we will play aggressively no matter what the situation. We wanted to be a tough team that would fight till the end.
We have proved in 12-24 months. We have won all and won easily as well despite being challenged. It's a great space to be in for the team. For now it's time to celebrate. We have some time off from Test cricket. When we resume we will look to start playing the same way.
Q. The team also addressed playing spin better. Thats also been an improvement from Galle.
A. A lot of work did go behind playing spin. Honestly we hadn't played spin bowling for the last couple of years, travelling abroad. It took us some time. We decided to be aggressive against spinners. We have grown up playing spin and played it all our lives. So we knew how to play Test bowling. It was just a matter of making the mental switch.
Q. The Chennai Test will be remembered for Karun's 300, Jadeja's 7 wickets and KL Rahul's run he missed that could have got him to 200. It's a cruel game sometimes?
Read more to click here
