India captain Virat Kohli on Sunday said the team will continue with KL Rahul as the wicketkeeper-batsman “for a while” as he lends massive balance to the side just like his illustrious namesake Rahul Dravid did during 2003 World Cup.
Rahul has been in sublime touch with the bat and in the last two ODIs against Australia, also did a decent job behind the stumps in 2-1 series win. He kept the wickets here on Sunday even though Rishabh Pant had regained full fitness after getting concussed by Pat Cummins’s bouncer in the first ODI.
“I think lack of clarity in terms of positions has really hurt us in the past. Now that we understand that this feels right, we will go ahead with that for a while and figure out if this is the right thing to do or not. You cannot chip and change immediately and create confusion among the group,” Kohli said at a media conference on Sunday with reference to No 4 conundrum during ODI World Cup.
“We are playing very well, unchanged team and did the job two with back to back wins. Don’t see any reason why we should change this balance. It has done well for the team,” making it clear that Rishabh Pant might have to wait a bit longer for his comeback in the playing XI.
“It (Rahul’s keeping) definitely allows us to play an extra batsmen which strengthens our batting massively. That is a very important factor as far as the team balance is concerned,” he said.
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