Senior India player KL Rahul has admitted to facing competition in the ODI team saying there is always a temptation for the head coach and captain to play Rishabh Pant ahead of him.
“There is (competition with Pant), I won’t lie. He is a very talented player and has shown all of us what he can do and how aggressively he can play and how quickly he can change the game. So there is always a temptation with the captain and the coach to think if they should play him or me,” Rahul said during a news conference in Dubai on Friday.
“For me, whenever I get the opportunity, I try and see what I can do best. I am not trying to compete with Rishabh. I am not trying to play like him... I am sure when he gets a chance, he is not trying to play like anybody else. He is picked on the basis of how he can play, and the same applies to me. So I try and do what I do best and try and stick to my game,” he said ahead of their match against New Zealand on Sunday.
Given the nature of the tournament, it is unlikely that Pant would play unless there’s any injury concern.
“Luckily I am not part of the leadership group. I don’t have to make that decision. There will be some temptation to try out players who have not gotten a game. But I don’t think that will happen in the Champions Trophy... We only have one day’s break before the semi-finals and have got a six-day break now. So, we probably want all of the players to play the game and get a little bit of time in the middle. And this is my version.”
Rahul said adjusting to different batting positions did create problems but he has got used to it.
“It’s never easy for anyone to be moving in different places. But that’s how the game goes. Whatever the team thinks is the best possible combination and what they feel is the best entry point for a player... you leave it up to the team to decide and you just try and do your job and that’s what I’m focusing on,” Rahul said.
The wicketkeeper-batter dismissed any concerns about captain Rohit Sharma’s fitness, who batted for quite sometime at nets on Friday.
“Fitness-wise I think there’s nothing to worry... I don’t know too much but from whatever I know I think everything seems pretty okay. There’s no real concern about anyone missing games... Yeah everyone’s been in the gym, everyone’s been at training... little concerns but I don’t think it’s too much,” Rahul said.
The match against New Zealand will be Virat Kohli’s 300th ODI. Rahul called Kohli an “important senior player”, someone he has always looked up to and wished him “many more” centuries.
“Words fall short of explaining the kind of player he has been… that’s a lot of games, international games and he has been a great great player. Important senior player who we always look up to. Hopefully, many more 100s left in him,” Rahul said.
