ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2022

November 3, 2022

KL Rahul

Adelaide Oval

India

Post Match Media Conference

Q. Can you take us through the last week, your emotions you were going through, your loss of confidence, especially with three matches, there was no run? You had a good game in Brisbane, could you talk about it?

KL RAHUL: My emotions are good. I'm excited to be here. It's obviously a huge opportunity for all of us, and we all look forward to the World Cup for the last 10 to 12 months. And we worked really hard as individuals and as a team.

And I was still relaxed. I've always tried to be as balanced as I can as a person. But whether I do well, whether I don't do well, I try to judge myself on whether my mindset is right, and whether I'm trying to do the role and the responsibility that the team expects me to do. And if I think I'm doing that well, I can go to sleep peacefully.

Q. Roll of 50 and fine throw from the deep, how do you sum up your performance within the team environment?

KL RAHUL: Good. I think it's a very important game for us. And every game is important, obviously. It's the World Cup. Every game is important. We all want to contribute to the team. We all want to do what's expected out of us.

And today was an opportunity for me to stand up and do well. I got a good start. So I continued. And every game has been different batsmen, different person who is putting their hands up and making it count.

So, yeah, the team environment is really good. Really relaxed. We're excited at the same time. And we've obviously worked really hard, like I said, the last 10, 12 months and we put ourselves in difficult and uncomfortable situations before. Now, when we're in those situations, we know what we've done. We know how we've prepared. So there's a confidence within us that no matter what situation, we'll find a way and try to do the job for the team.

Q. Talking about the throw particularly, do you practise that one regularly? Secondly, what was the mood going on when it was 66 for no loss and the over ending? What was the team thinking at that point in time?

KL RAHUL: If you come to the ground, you'll obviously see that we all train very hard on our fielding. And obviously cricket is a very important of our lives. And it's part of the game for us now so we train really hard. We work on our throwing. We work on moving quickly. We work on running faster. Whenever we get the opportunity to be in the middle, in the ground, in practise fielding, we try to do that. All these things are things every team does, every individual does. And I think when you keep working hard, it sometimes comes off. And today was one such time where the ball came to me, I threw the ball and hit the stump.

And, yeah, the mood was -- obviously the first six overs didn't go according to our plan. I think Litton really played an exceptional knock. And who knows, innings like those really put pressure on the fielding and the bowling team because he played proper cricket shots. And he hit our bowlers off their good length and off their best ball. So that kind of innings really puts you under pressure. But we all knew that once the power play is over we can pull things back.

But unfortunately, I think even after the power play, the first bowler actually bowled and restricted it for five or six runs.

Even without the rain, I think we could have put pressure on the opposition once the power play was done. We all knew that. We were confident about that. But after the rain break or during the rain break as well, our mindset was the same, we tried to stay switched on. And there were discussions of what lengths we need to bowl, what are the areas that we can contain the Bangladeshi batsmen, and everybody stayed on.

Q. Bat to form in Adelaide, Virat always scored runs. How much confidence can you get from those kind of things? Kohli always scores runs in Adelaide and bat to form. The confidence that you have with him at this particular grounds?

KL RAHUL: It was a good -- like I said, I was confident. I've been batting well and seeing the ball really well. So today was my day that I got off to a start, I got a few balls in the middle of the bat. Once that happens as a batsman, you're only focused on what is in front of you, what you need to do for the team. You don't really think about what ground or what conditions, what opposition you're playing. Your mind is only thinking about what you need to do.

Q. [Not in English]

KL RAHUL: I think every innings is important especially in a big tournament like this. So that is the only doubt that is in your mind. But at least I don't get frustrated or I didn't feel like my form or my confidence was low.

I just didn't get the runs. And it happens in the game. You're not always going to keep scoring runs. It's what you feel if you're feeling confident and you know that good innings will come and it's around the corner.

And I knew that in my heart that I was seeing the ball well. Whatever I need to do, my processes were right. So I knew the good knock or good contribution for the team is coming. Obviously, we've all said this a lot of times before as well: The support staff, this is where they play a really important role in creating that environment where a player feels confident, comfortable and there is no doubt about his ability or what he brings to the team.

And they've kept that environment really, really balanced all the time. Like I said, whether we do well or don't do well, we always stay balanced, and the support staff have been really supportive. The captains always backed his players. And you can see that. That's why players always, even if we've had a couple of tough innings, we find a way to come back and do well for the team.

So it's been a long -- it's something that you work on as a team. There are things you work on as an individual which helps you. But these are things as a team you work and support staff, the coach, the captain, when they show confidence and faith in you, it gives you that confidence as a player that you will get the backing if you're going in the right direction.

Q. [Not in English]

A. We try and sit down as a team and review. As a team and as individuals you speak to your particular coach, whether it's a batting coach, fielding coach, bowling coach, you speak to them.

And there's always a regular review of how we're doing as individuals and always as a team. Yeah, we all see what we've done right, what we've done wrong. We learn from it and leave it in the dressing room or we leave it here, the things that have happened, and try and move forward with that learning and with that confidence. We can't control it. We can't go back and do anything. So just review this game, what are our learnings as a team or we look forward to what we need to do in two or three days' time against Zimbabwe. And so that's the only thing we do.

And as individuals, I think at this level everyone understands personal responsibilities. A frame of mind so you can give your best for the team. So that happens individually and this is how we try and move forward as a team.

Q. Like you spoke about the review yesterday, Virat Kohli, after his batting, seemed to be spending a considerable amount of time watching you bat and had discussion. Could you shed some light if there were some technical inputs that helped you during this innings?

KL RAHUL: No, we were actually just discussing about how this time being in Australia has been a little different. We have come here before and played T20 cricket, test cricket, everything. But what we expected the wickets to play, that's not happened so far. It's been a bit more challenging than our previous tour.

So we were just talking about that thing and how we can -- just discussing the mindset and what we were going through in the middle and just seeing if something he says that I can use in the middle and something that if we can help each other in whatever way.

Those are the discussions that we all have as players and obviously you want to learn from each other. He's been doing well in the last two, three games. Obviously he's doing something right. So you want to understand his mindset and what he's thinking between balls and just his mindset while he's in the middle. So just discussions about that.