#INDvAUS: KL Rahul takes up responsibility for lack of partnerships – The Karnataka lad faced a lot of flak for throwing his wicket away after being set and going well with Ajinkya Rahane in the first innings in Pune, a dismissal that started India's shocking collapse of 7/11.
KL Rahul (File Photo)
KL Rahul's outing on Saturday was a lot like the one he had just last week, in the first innings in Pune.
In both the innings, Rahul was fighting a lone battle, scoring almost half of the team's total on an average (64 out of 105 in Pune and 90 out of 189 here). In both the innings, Rahul was the only free-flowing player in India's timid batting show. In both the innings, Rahul had a bout of pain on his left shoulder, which eventually played a part in his downfall.
The opener has a bitter-sweet feel about his two gritty knocks. All the runs are adding to his form and confidence, but doing little for the team in the larger context of the game. "Nothing is satisfying," Rahul said when asked to choose the more satisfying of the two knocks. "I'm happy that I can contribute and it's my responsibility batting up the order that I bat as long as I can and get as many runs as I can. I'm happy with both the innings and how I batted.
"But maybe we need to build more partnerships. That becomes my responsibility also to tell the batsman coming in what shots we can play and how we can hold on to this partnership. It didn't happen in Pune and here as well," he added.
The Karnataka lad faced a lot of flak for throwing his wicket away after being set and going well with Ajinkya Rahane in the first innings in Pune, a dismissal that started India's shocking collapse of 7/11.
He was set here as well. However this time, he had no option but to go for broke, having been stranded on 90 with just two wickets left. Even if it meant more pain in his left shoulder.
"I had to look to get as many runs as I could with the last two batsmen there. In the last few overs, I had to look to take that chance and risk which I knew would give me some pain," he said.
He revealed the reasoning behind not asking for the physio when he felt the pain in his shoulder, something he did immediately in Pune.
"Medical treatment at that time wouldn't have really done a lot of good for me. So I looked to continue and tried to play a few shots, which didn't go my way."
'Confident that Ashwin will run through Aus batting'
Despite being spun out for 189, KL Rahul believed India will bounce back hard into the match and that Ravichandran Ashwin will run through the Australian batting line-up on Sunday. "The cracks are opening up and it's only getting harder to bat on this wicket. We know Ash (Ashwin) is a top class bowler and once he gets a couple of wickets and gets into that rhythm, then he is going to run through the Australian batting line-up, which we are very confident of. (Ravindra) Jadeja didn't get to bowl a lot today (Saturday) but like Lyon, he too has a lot of rough for the left-handers outside the off-stump. If he can come in and bowl consistently on the rough, we will get a lot of wickets,' he said.
