"I saw a little bit of myself when I was here 10 years ago" - KL Rahul on batting alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in 2024-25 BGT
Team India batter KL Rahul acknowledged that Yashasvi Jaiswal reminded him of himself from when he made his Test debut in Australia, 10 years ago. While Jaiswal came into the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy as an established opener, it was his first time playing in such conditions, having predominantly played on home soil since his debut in 2023.
Rahul has had several opening partners, with Jaiswal being the most recent addition to the list. Before this, he had not availed the opportunity to bat alongside Jaiswal following his shift to the middle order. The pair put on a historic 201-run partnership in the first innings at the Optus Stadium in Perth to swing the momentum towards India's favor in the series opener.
Yashasvi Jaiswal bounced back after recording a duck in the first innings to amass 161 runs in the second. KL Rahul, being the senior player in this scenario, spoke about how he guided the youngster through the partnership.
"It's the first time I'm batting with him, I don't think we have batted together before this. In the first innings we did not get enough time together, but we did have a few chats before in training sessions, and I try to share whatever little I've learned from playing here in Australia. Just tried to speak with him, calm him down. I saw a little bit of myself when I was here 10 years ago, opening the batting for the first time," Rahul said during a press conference ahead of the second Test in Adelaide (via RevSportz).
KL Rahul made his Test debut during the Boxing Day Test in 2014 as a 22-year-old. He was promoted as an opener in his second appearance, replacing Shikhar Dhawan. The wicketkeeper-batter made the most of the opportunity by scoring a ton and being India's long-term red-ball opener.
"In practice, I felt that it was a little different in terms of how you watch this ball" - KL Rahul on adapting to the pink ball
The second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played with the pink ball, which has proven to be a challenge for the batters, with its visibility under the lights also being a huge factor.
KL Rahul was not part of the last pink ball Test India played in Adelaide during the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the other day-night Tests since 2019. He got a match-day feel of the ball when he played against the Prime Ministers' XI in a warm-up clash in Canberra.
"This will be my first pink ball Test match. I don't have the game experience like some other players have in the team. It is just about speaking to the guys and get to know what were the things that they found hard and how did they manage to adjust and make changes. In practice, I felt that it was a little different in terms of how you watch this ball," KL Rahul added in the same presser.
The second Test between India and Australia is scheduled to begin on Friday, December 6, at the Adelaide Oval.