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India's wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul answered the critics with his bat with an unbeaten 34-ball 42 in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against Australia and then laid bare his emotions. Rahul said that he has been batting in the middle order since 2020 and doing what captain Rohit Sharma has asked him to. Despite his efforts, his place in the ODI squad is questioned every four-five months. He thanked Rohit for backing him amidst criticism.
"Honestly, I mean it's since I think 2020 I've batted at No.5 and a lot of times people forget that that's where I've been batting," Rahul told Star Sports. "And every time I perform in a series and then there's a break from ODI series, ODI cricket and then we come back after four or five months there's a question mark again about 'oh well will he play in the XI, where does he fit' and sometimes I'm sitting there thinking what more can I do. Everywhere that I've been asked to play I've played and I feel like I have performed my role. Whatever's been told to me by Rohit, he's been the captain for the last four-five years.
"And whatever he's told me I feel like I've done that to the best of my ability. And I know that Rohit feels the same and he's always supported me and backed me with that. So, there's that confidence going into game that the captain has my back."
Rahul likes to bat at top but relishing middle-order role
However, Rahul admitted that he enjoys batting in the top order. He recalled that opening the batting on Australian pitches in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 was harder for him than opening in white-ball. He revealed that he is happy with the current role and has worked on his ability to find boundaries more often.
"Yeah, I do [enjoy batting at the top], I mean I won't lie. It's after opening the batting in Australia in Test matches and having to face that attack in Australia and you know how red-ball [cricket] is much harder. I opened the batting there and then to come here and bat low seems a bit different, but this is how I've played white-ball cricket in the last four-five years," the 32-year-old said.
"So, I'm quite used to going up and down the order so I'm just happy getting a chance to play in the middle and whatever role is given, I think it's really helped me understand my game a lot more and I've had to work on boundary hitting a lot more in the last year or so because the last ODI we played in Sri Lanka I batted at No. 6, so I knew that's where I'll be batting and [we] needed a left-hander in the top order," he added.
When Rahul walked in to bat, India were 178/4 from 35 overs. The required run rate was climbing up and India needed to release some pressure. Rahul played himself in and told Virat Kohli that he will take the attacking role. He did exactly that and hit two fours and as many sixes in his unbeaten 42, helping India win by four wickets and 11 balls to spare.
