'Look forward to enjoying responsibility' - Rahul Embraces the Leadership Challenge in South Africa ODIs

KL Rahul has been given the responsibility to lead India in the ODIs against South Africa. He will take on the captaincy in the absence of Shubman Gill who has been  ruled out of the series due to neck injury. The young batter is recovering fast from that blow, however, currently he has been advised to take rest at home.

Speaking about the captaincy, Rahul said that he was informed about the decision just a few days ago. The wicketkeeper batter has prior experience of India captaincy, so the opportunity to lead the team again has made him very excited.

"Just a day before the announcement, I was told that the opportunity might come and I might have to lead. I have captained the side before. It is something that is very exciting. I look forward to enjoying that responsibility. I have always enjoyed responsibility, making the right decisions for the team. That's about it. I don't think too much about it." said KL Rahul at the pre-match press conference.

He further said that having the support of senior players in the lineup means a great deal to him. He is optimistic about taking on the role and is determined to perform his captaincy duties to the best of his abilities.

"I obviously have Rohit [Sharma], Virat [Kohli], Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja], all the senior players around me who will help out. How we have all played our cricket is to think of it as we are all leaders and we try and do the best for the team. That continues whether I am captain or someone else is captain. It is always a collective effort to doing something in the direction of a bigger goal." said stand-in Indian captain, KL Rahul.

In the last test match against South Africa, KL Rahul’s stumps were broken by an off-break ripper from Simon Harmer. When asked about that dismissal, Rahul said that he does have some regret about getting out in that innings, however, he is not thinking too much about whether he should have played a different shot at that moment.

"There is no regret of not trying a different shot. There is a regret of executing what I did. It is a test format. At the stage that I was playing, it was the last few overs of the day. I don't think that's the right time for me to try and step down and hit the bowler for a boundary.” said KL Rahul.

He added that there were different types of shots he could have attempted against that delivery. If he had stepped out of the crease and gotten out, it would have raised even more questions about his technique. So, it was a spontaneous decision to defend the ball, which unfortunately didn’t work out.

"Looking back, yes, maybe I would have [come down and blocked it] but it was only the second ball of the over. If I had stepped down and gotten out, maybe that would have been a question mark in my own head as to whether that was right or wrong.” said KL Rahul.

“At that point in time, I think defending was the right option to do which I didn't do well enough." added KL Rahul.

Need to Find Answers Quickly, Says KL Rahul

The wicketkeeper-batter then said that his team needs to find answers as to why they have been playing spin so poorly. He said they will look into this situation seriously, as the next series against Sri Lanka and Australia could once again test their technique in tough conditions.

"I don't know why we were better in playing spin before and not so good now. There are a lot of reasons. But we can just think about how we can do better as players. How individually we can do better and when in six-seven months we are in a similar situation against Sri Lanka [away] and the home series against Australia, so how we can do better and what are the technical changes we need to make.” said KL Rahul.

“These are things we'll individually seek answers. And like you said, we used to play spin very well before so we'll reach out to those players and try to learn something from our seniors." concluded KL Rahul.