KL Rahul is keen to keep wickets in Tests as well: Rohit

With K.L. Rahul all but certain to be India’s wicketkeeper in Test cricket for the first time, captain Rohit Sharma said on the eve of the series opener that the right-handed batter is himself keen on taking the role which he does with aplomb in ODIs. With Ishan Kishan pulling out of the series due to personal reasons and Rishabh Pant recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident last year, a window has opened for Rahul to reclaim his spot in the Test team in the form of a wicketkeeper who bats in the middle-order. On Sunday, head coach Rahul Dravid had called this as an exciting challenge for his namesake. “Every cricketer has to go through some kind of transformation or take a different role in their career. There are hardly a few cricketers who have stuck to the same position and played that role throughout their careers in that position. I felt the way he kept in the World Cup; it was quite pleasing. He is really working hard and he himself is quite keen to take up that role as well.” “It gives us an option to play a solid batter at five/six/seven in the middle order. He’s got the experience of playing here, got a hundred last time, although he opened the innings there and this time around, he will be in the middle-order. Even I think that the position he bats in the middle-order in ODIs, we have seen that he does most of the things right,” said Rohit in the pre-match press conference. Rahul had scored a century as an opener in India’s last Test at Centurion in 2021, which they won. But this time, he will be donning the gloves for only the second time in first-class cricket and bat in the middle-order, a role which has given him success in ODIs, but is a different ball game in Test cricket. “He bats and understands the game really well and is an experienced player.