"No one's doing it on purpose" - KL Rahul on Indian batters failing to build partnerships in 1st ODI

KL Rahul backed India to come back strong with the bat in the 2nd ODI vs South Africa.

India captain KL Rahul won the toss in the 2nd ODI against South Africa in Paarl and elected to bat. Having lost the first match, the visitors will be hoping to bounce back on Friday.

#TeamIndia have won the toss and elect to bat first in the 2nd ODI.

Live - bit.ly/SAvIND-2ndODI #SAvIND https://t.co/bvoiR0PIv2

Speaking about what went wrong in the first match, Rahul emphasized the importance of building partnerships. The stand-in skipper said that all the players know what they must do and are giving it their best. He pointed out that none of the Indian batters are failing on purpose.

Speaking at the toss, Rahul said:

"We didn't do it too wrong, but the middle overs with bat and ball - we couldn't get wickets and we couldn't get partnerships going. Virat and Shikhar batted really well, set the tempo for us. One more partnership we would have probably got home."

He went on to say:

"We did speak about it, and the batters realised where we went wrong. Nobody wants to do it on purpose, everyone tried really hard. We've learned from it and spoken about it."

Speaking about why India opted to bat first, the skipper said:

"It's pretty straightforward. Second game on the same strip so it's important for us to put runs on the board. We're guessing and hoping the wicket will get slow later on."

KL Rahul to continue opening as India field same playing XI

KL Rahul will continue to open the innings for India in the absence of Rohit Sharma while India have opted to go with the same playing XI as the last game. He will open with Shikhar Dhawan, with Virat Kohli playing at No.3. Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer will come after them, followed by Venkatesh Iyer.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur are bowling all-rounders, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Yuzvendra Chahal round off the rest of the lineup.

Here are the lineups:

🇮🇳: They are unchanged.

🇿🇦: Sisanda Magala replaces Marco Jansen.

#India #SouthAfrica #SAvIND https://t.co/FL5zv88Axy

South Africa, meanwhile, made one change to their team from the last match, with Sisanda Magala replacing Marco Jansen.