Time outside the Test playing XI has provided opportunity to clear cluttered mind, said K.L. Rahul, who hit 84 as opener to guide India to a 95-run first innings lead over England in the ongoing first Test here.

“I used to have lots of doubts in my mind on the shots I play — 2-3 different shots for every ball even in red ball cricket. So that was something I realised I had to learn to control,” said Rahul, who had last played a Test match in August-September, 2019.

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“When the wicket is challenging or we are playing against a good bowler or when the ball is swinging, we need to hold back some shots — so those are the things I tried to work on and those were the learnings from when I was not playing Test cricket,” added Rahul on Friday night.

Prior to the tour of England, he was earmarked for the middle-order. In fact, former India selector Gagan Khoda said recently that he thought middle-order is the ideal place for him.

Given an opportunity to bat at No. 5 in the warm-up match, Rahul scored a century against County Select XI last month.

“Anything that I have learnt over the last two years is be ready to do anything. I have been asked to do different roles a lot of times and I enjoyed doing them and this was another opportunity for me to go out there and challenge myself,” he told media.

“Obviously, [in] the Test cricket that I have played so far, I have opened the batting so that is something that I have done all my life. It wasn’t something new, I knew how to go about the innings and how to build an innings. So I wanted to go out there and grab the opportunity and make the most of it,” he added.