K. L. Rahul Quotes

If you are batting first as an opener, you give yourselves a couple of overs, see what's the wicket behaving, and then try to assess what a good score on that wicket would be, and then you plan accordingly.

Before the match starts I visualise that I will try to rotate the strike and take singles. But if I see that the players batting before me are struggling, and the wicket is not playing that good, I try to dominate from the first ball.

In the middle order the game is a little more laid out for you, whether you are batting first or chasing down a score, so you are a bit more reactive to the situation in front of you. Opening up, it is pretty much a blank canvas and dependent on how you play.

When I grew up, I tried to score off every ball, be it a 10-over-match, a 20-over, or even a Test match. If I stay in the wicket for, say, about 30 minutes, I want to make the most of it and score maximum runs possible. You never know when you get out; try to score as much possible before that.

If you ask me, a batsman has very few opportunities as compared to a bowler. A bowler knows, if he gets hit for a six or a boundary, he has another delivery left to get back and take a wicket. For a batsman, one loose shot, and you are out. A bowler will always have 24 opportunities.

Obviously, when I go in at No. 11 it stands to reason that we will have a better chance of scoring runs or batting out time if the batsman at the other end takes most of the strike. That's because, as my place in the order suggests, he is a better batsman than me.

First six overs are important because if you put runs on board, it will take the pressure off the other batsmen.

Shot selection is very important because you don't want to lose wickets at the start and put pressure on the rest of the side.

When you start off a T20 innings you want someone who is going to be hitting the top of off stump, causing problems and being quite disciplined with the ball.

When I was growing up, I played a lot of ten- and 12-over games, and I would bat in the middle order. I got only ten-odd balls to face, and I tried to score as much as I could. I applied the same approach in domestic and international cricket, and people were appreciating my strike rate being more than 80 or 90 in Test cricket.

I don't need to be going out reverse-sweeping for six and four straightaway. Singles can be just as important as boundaries, rotating the strike and not letting the bowlers settle.

In the U.A.E., the wickets are on the slower side. You can't play through the line; you need to take your time and be patient.

I have always liked to attack the bowlers, and batting is all about getting runs.

We won't necessarily sledge so much but we do have that attitude of 'They're not going to score the runs, we're going to take the wickets.'

To score runs you have to be pragmatic.

You see teams buy a lot of batsmen for a lot of money because they are good batsmen. But you also need good bowlers to get them out or contain the runs.

Running-between-the-wickets is the ability to convert ones into twos, twos into threes, and threes into fours. And to reach the wickets on time.

I want to be a high-order batter in the one-day stuff, to play some long innings rather than just go in and have a swipe.

Well, I've always prefered playing spin off the back foot because, to my mind, it takes short leg and silly point out of the equation.

If I get runs in an entertaining fashion, then great. I like to get on top of bowlers and be aggressive. I don't want to be dominated by them. Hopefully people enjoy the way I play.

It's important on any English wicket to leave well.

Kohli scores so freely. He's like Joe Root in that before you know it, he's on 30 off 20 balls. He is also the master of the chase - he calculates so the risks so perfectly.

In 50over cricket there are different ways of playing. It's not all about smacking it over the top. It's important someone bats through the innings. That would be one of the options for me.

You can't stop me in bump. And you definitely can't stop me playing off. You just try to contain me and stop me from getting a lot of catches.

For me, Test cricket at its best is all about ebb and flow of initiative, and it's always a fascinating moment of the match for me when one sides snatches it from the other.