The T20I opener between India and West Indies has had its best moments at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. Both the teams gave absolutely everything to get the better of the other and in the end, Virat Kohli & Co came out on top much to the visitors’ annoyance.

West Indies scored a humongous 207/5 in their allotted quota of 20 overs on the back of Shimron Hetmyer‘s half-century and Evin Lewis’ quick-fire 17-ball-40. Kieron Pollard and Bandon King also did their part as they both chipped in with 37 and 31 respectively. Jason Holder pushed the team to get past the big figure mark with his 9-ball-24.

In reply, the hosts lost Rohit Sharma early on in the game for a paltry 8 runs. The pressure was on India as they were up for a massive run-chase. However, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul restored normalcy by taking the game away from the visitors. KL Rahul batted with absolute grit and gumption alongside Kohli and chipped in with 40-ball-62 with the help of 5 fours and 4 sixes.

I am not worried about the T20 World Cup 2020: KL Rahul

Their rock-solid 100-run partnership set the perfect platform for India. West Indies tried to get back into the game by dismissing Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. However, Kohli single-handedly finished the game in a grand fashion with an unbeaten 94 as hosts aced the run-chase by 6 wickets with 8 balls to spare. India

KL Rahul, who went about his business when it mattered the most, also became the third-joint fastest in T20I history to complete 1,000 runs. At the post-match press conference, Rahul said that he doesn’t plan his innings according to the strike rate as he plays his game naturally.

Despite scoring a vital knock, Rahul is aware of the fact that he still not guaranteed a place in T20Is keeping in mind that he is opening the innings only due to an injured Shikhar Dhawan. However, he isn’t worried about cementing his place as he does want to make full use of the opportunities to good effect.

“It’s (T20 World Cup) a long way, honestly. I’ve got the opportunity to bat at the top of the order again after a couple of series. So looking forward to just making the best use of it. Today was a good outing, a good hit in the middle and hopefully I just continue the same thing and not worry about October next year, there’s a lot of games before that,” Rahul said.

KL Rahul identifies his role in the Indian team

Rahul said that he had the opportunity to make it big and added that he will surely try to make his presence count in the next match starting on December 8 (Sunday) at Greenfield International Stadium, Kerala.

Talking about his role in the batting order, the 27-year-old batsman said, “My role is to set the foundation and we have others to do their job later, the finishing job. Today I missed out, but I’ll try to do better in the next match.”

Rahul said scoring runs and getting the job done for the team is something that keeps him going. “You need runs as a batsman in any format, that is what gives you confidence. The thing that is giving me confidence is winning games. I don’t change my game when I play there (domestic) – that’s how I like to keep it. I like to keep things simple,” he signed off.