Ahead of the pink-ball, day-night Test against Australia, India batter KL Rahul opened up on batting with Yashasvi Jaiswal during the Perth Test win, saying that he saw a little bit of younger him in the 22-year-old who is also making his first trip to Australia like Rahul did back in 2014. The cricket technicians and Test-loving purists would no doubt be anticipating yet another masterclass from Jaiswal and Rahul at the top when they take to the field for the second Test at Adelaide Oval.
Their double-century partnership in the second innings not only broke several records at Perth, but also paved the way for a massive 295-run win. While KL played a crucial knock of 77, Jaiswal went on to crack an awe-inspiring 161 in his first Test in Australia after a first innings duck.
Speaking during pre-match press conference, KL said that during the second innings, they talked about putting some massive runs on the board to move ahead in the game after managing just 150 runs in the first innings. Also, he said that he shared some wisdom about playing in Australia with Jaiswal, that he has gathered with his decade-long experience.
“I do not think we’ve batted together before this. In the first innings, we did not really get enough time. He got out really early. But we did have a few chats before in training sessions as well and I tried to share whatever little I have learned from playing here in Australia and facing up against the new ball. So those were the conversations that we had. But in the second innings, obviously, it was a really important period that second day where we had to put runs on board and we knew if we could do that, we will be ahead in the game,” said the batter.
Rahul said that batting with Jaiswal made him see glimpses of himself in the 22-year-old star and he tried to calm him down and guide him through different passages of the game, just like his old opening partner Murali Vijay used to do when Rahul himself was starting out.
“I have realised how important the opening partnership is when you travel overseas. So just try to speak to him, calm him down. Like I said, I saw a little bit of myself when I was here 10 years ago opening the batting for the first time,” he said.
“A lot of doubts, a lot of nerves. You keep doubting your own game and there is a lot that happens in your head. So the only thing that you can do is to slow things down, try and take a few deep breaths and focus on one thing.”
“And that is what was passed on to me by my fellow opening partner back then, Murali Vijay. So I just passed that on to him. And again, it is the same again with him,” KL concluded his point.
Rahul said that once Jaiswal played those first 30-40 balls, he started to feel more confident.
“He was seeing the ball really well and he batted beautifully. So it was just about trying to help him in that first 30-40 balls and then he was good to go,” he signed off.
The Adelaide Test, starting on December 6, sees India entering with both a mental and physical edge, following a dominant performance in the first Test led by Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling and captaincy.
However, the visitors will also aim to exorcise the memories of the infamous 2020 Adelaide pink-ball Test, where they were dismissed for their lowest Test score of 36 runs. On that occasion, Pat Cummins (4/21) and Josh Hazlewood (5/8) dismantled the Indian batting line-up, giving Australia a straightforward target of 90 runs to chase.
India are currently 1-0 up in the BGT series following their record-shattering 295-run victory in Perth. The second Test will be played in a day-night format in Adelaide, beginning from Friday.
Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (WK), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.
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