Kings XI Punjab opener Lokesh Rahul with an unbeaten 84 runs on Sunday guided his side to six-wicket win over Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore.
In the ongoing season of the IPL, Rahul has given some explosive starts to his side and played match-winning innings for Punjab.
Talking about Sunday’s match and his mindset, KL Rahul told IPLT20.com that, “I try to keep the same focus in every match that I go out to bat. I want to get as many runs as I can in the powerplay. (However,) I think I haven’t converted those starts into big runs for the team; as an opening batsman that’s what is crucial. If you get off to a good start, even if you get the run rate down a bit in the middle overs, if you are set till the end you can do the most damage. That’s what I learnt from the first leg (of the tournament) before we broke off for eight days.”
KL Rahul also explained about his approach and said he wanted to win as many games as he can for Punjab.
“Those were the things I was thinking about sitting back at home. I wanted to come here with a fresher approach and try to win as many games as I can. (I wanted to) try to bat deep in the innings and that was the plan and I am very happy that it paid off today,” Rahul said.
Other than opening the innings for Kings XI Punjab, Rahul has also been given the job to keep the wickets for the team.
“I enjoy wicket-keeping in the shorter format. If it is in the longer format, then keeping for a longer time and then going out to bat as soon as the innings is finished is little hard on the body. I have always enjoyed wicket-keeping in T20s. I think it gives me a good view of what the wicket is doing, like in the second innings today, I knew how the wicket was playing and what were the right shots to play on this wicket even before I went out to bat. So that helps,” KL Rahul told IPLt20.com.