His talent was always undeniable, but converting it into consistent performances was an issue ahead of the tour of England, where a classy ton at Lord’s changed it all for the Karnataka man.
And then Centurion happened, where Rahul, believing in his philosophy of “less is better”, curbed his once infamous enthusiasm, dropping too many deliveries outside the off-stump and waiting for his moment.
Rahul has understood this the hard way. Like in life, in cricket too, sometimes it’s better to let go. In such a situation, they are in the corridor of delivery uncertainty.
The player of the match, who set up India’s first win, said, “It’s something I really enjoy doing at the moment. It’s the key to Test cricket because you don’t have to leave the balls outside the off-stump. You need to enjoy.” In Centurion with a hundred days.
“I know we play a lot of one-day and T20 cricket, hitting the ball all over the park is exciting and thrilling, but when you come to Test cricket, learn to be disciplined, learn to play the waiting game.” economy of everything is not lost Virat KohliDeputy for the series against South Africa.
He also understands that repetition can be boring but it is the surest recipe for success.
“Mistakes happen when you get bored of doing the same thing. I enjoy playing defensive shots, this year tired the bowlers as I started playing Test matches again in England,” said Rahul.
So where is this century among his six overseas hundreds?
“How challenging it was in terms of conditions and wickets out there, I think this innings will be fine for me. It took a lot of guts and determination and discipline to score a century and put my team in a winning position. So yes ‘It’s right there,’ he was clear in his assessment.
Would like to stand in slips till Bumrah plays cricket
watching Jasprit Bumrah Bowling from close is a boon and Rahul doesn’t want to trade it for anything.
“As long as Jasprit Bumrah is playing cricket, I would love to be there. It’s the best position. (laughs), slip is a good position and Shami, Bumrah and (Mohammed) Siraj are bowling, so I stay there like,” he said.
While he is happy standing in the slip cordon, what he absolutely dislikes is facing these blocks in the nets, as they make him uncomfortable with his pace and skill.
“It’s more difficult to get our bowlers to play in the nets because especially for me or many batsmen, we don’t enjoy playing in the nets as much and to add to that – these guys scare us (laughs) …
“…and they don’t consider us as teammates when they see us in the nets. They are very, very competitive people. So yes, we are very fortunate to have such quality in our bowling line-up. ,” They said .
Rahul Dravid Brings peace to the dressing room
There can be no better teacher than Rahul Dravid to teach him the art of batting as per his name.
“You talk about the art of batting, which you know, we are all very fortunate to have a player like him in the dressing room and he (Dravid) has brought a lot of calmness and balance to the dressing room,” Rahul said.
But he is also a task master and gets everything done in the training sessions.
He said, “Preparation, he focuses on that. He (Dravid) worked really hard in training us, in the nets, we enjoyed that period. It’s for us to learn and get better as cricketers and as people.” It’s a great opportunity, so it’s a great thing for us.”
next goal
It is very easy for a stylish batsman.
“I had a good knock here and I’ll have to go back to the Wanderers and try to do the same thing again,” he summed it up.
,