KL Rahul's Versatility Key for India

Kannaur Lokesh Rahul has been in the form of his life in limited-overs cricket. The elegant batsman, known for stroke play and flair, has also proven to be efficient with the gloves, a skill that's helping bring more balance to the team.

Making his debut in the Indian cricket team as an opener, he has moved around the batting lineup. Although he is at his best when he opens the innings, the presence of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan has meant that Rahul has had to sacrifice his preferred position.

While Dhawan was injured, Rahul got the deserved opportunity to open. He performed well in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, and improved with each passing game. Following this, his performances against the West Indies made it impossible to leave him out of the playing eleven. Even when Dhawan returned against Australia, a blistering knock of 80 off just 52 balls in the second ODI against the touring side ensured he wasn't forgotten.

While the Karnataka batsman has cemented his place, him keeping wickets has given the team the option to play an extra batsman or allrounder.

It definitely allows us to play an extra batsman which strengthens our batting order massively," said captain Virat Kohli on Rahul deputising as a keeper.

Over 300 runs for KL Rahul in his last 5 T20 innings.
Very impressed with the versatility that he has shown and adapted to different positions and roles.
Great support from Shreyas Iyer.
But this win was set up bey the bowlers who did not let NZ bataman to get away #IndvsNZ pic.twitter.com/uHTMc0XSKa
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) January 26, 2020

Rahul acknowledged that he is liking his role as a keeper-batsman, and he enjoys staying behind the stumps as it gives him a great idea about how the pitch is playing. Although it may seem unfamiliar at the International stage, he has been keeping wickets for his IPL team and also for Karnataka. In the IPL, he has taken 22 catches and has six stumpings.

Rahul's purple patch continued as he made scores of 56 and 57* in the ongoing tour of New Zealand. Looking at his stats in T20Is, he has scored runs in all of the three different batting positions. The fact that he has scored centuries while batting at No. 3 and 4 shows that he can score runs in the middle order as well.

Considering his recent form and his ability to play in more than one batting position while also being a capable keeper, he should be a part of the starting lineup for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.