KL Rahul admitted that he was in a bit of a T20I mode during day one of the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the New Chandigarh Stadium on Saturday.
KL and Shubman Gill scored tons as India ended the opening day on 368/3, with the Indian captain and Rishabh Pant unbeaten on 103 and 50, respectively.
KL last played competitive cricket for Delhi Capitals not long ago, just two weeks back, and that was a totally different format. In fact, he had been playing T20s from early April, in the Indian Premier League. When asked if switching from T20Is to Tests was difficult for him and if he had any urge to play shots in line with the kind of cricket he had been playing coming into this game, he said: “Yeah, I did [he had the urge]. I mean, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. That is something that I was telling myself as well, that because there’s not so much time between the last game that we played which was the T20 format , [in fact] for a couple of months, and then coming straight into this, sometimes you sit and overanalyse and try and play completely differently to T20 cricket.
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“But something that I consciously tried was to not restrict my shots, also be aware of what kind of shots I can play on this wicket against what kind of bowlers. So that’s something that I thought about in the last week leading up to this Test match. And yeah, that’s what I tried to do. And in the morning, I think I did play a few shots more than what I would have played ideally, but yeah, it didn’t make me frustrated or angry at myself. I was okay with playing shots and playing to the merit of the ball. That’s what I was trying to do more.”
After Yashasvi Jaiswal fell cheaply, KL was joined by Sai Sudharsan, and both added 139 for the second wicket before the latter departed for 81. KL also got out moments after his ton. He scored 100 off 165 balls and hit 11 fours. Even though he would have liked to make it really count, he was happy to hit his 12th Test ton nonetheless.
“Yeah, I’m really happy that I could get some time in the middle and make that switch from T20 to Test cricket in a short time. And yeah, that was the most pleasing thing. But yeah, [it was] really hot, so there wasn’t much time for me to feel happy or satisfied with the way I batted. I was just exhausted by the end of it,” he said.
‘Not exactly an easy deck’
KL also shared his thoughts on the nature of the pitch. It is the New Chandigarh Stadium’s first Test ever. “No, it [the ball] wasn’t coming on at all. It was a really slow and low sort of wicket, which we did expect after a few days of training here. It was pretty similar to this. So, got a few good sessions in and yeah, I had to make that switch and get used to spending time in the middle and get used to letting the ball come to you and get your Test game plan sorted in your head. So yeah, the few days that we spent here really helped and, I just carried that same training into the game and just enjoyed being out in the middle and playing some good old Test cricket,” he said.