India vs New Zealand | KL Rahul open to any kind of role, opines Virat Kohli

Indian captain Virat Kohli has come out and said ahead of the 1st T20 match of the five series that KL Rahul can accept any kind of role in the team as, and when it will be required.

The Indian skipper Virat Kohli along with the selectors now have a new headache to deal with KL Rahul conundrum has set foot in the minds of both the parties. Recently, we have seen him batting down the order in the ODI series as both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan featured in the playing XI. And in that particular ODI, it was Rahul’s innings that propelled India to level the series against Australia in Rajkot.

Now, the added responsibility of wicket-keeping was dropped on the shoulders of Rahul as Rishabh Pant took a blow on the helmet from a Pat Cummins bouncer in the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. And surprisingly, Rahul did an excellent job behind the stumps as well.

"He's open to accepting any kind of role, whatever the team wants. He is a total team man and you can tell the way he keeps as well, he is always looking for an opportunity and looking to make a play. He's not nervous about it. Just the collection of the throws and getting to the stumps every ball, he is just in the game. I think he relishes that much more than just being on the field and it's showing. He is more involved in the game, he is able to look at the field placements as well. I think it engages him into the game in the right manner and it's wonderful to have a guy who does both things well and brings balance to the team," Kohli told the reporters ahead of the 1st T20I in Auckland as reported by Cricbuzz.

This is where one could start thinking whether Pant is falling out of favour, as he has not performed well at all in the shorter formats of the game. His last five T20 international scores are - 18, 33*, 0, 1 and 28 and those numbers do not look great at all. Kohli has already mentioned it in the press conference that with Rahul behind the stumps, he has more options to play around with in the team.

"In the one day game we will have to think of sticking to the same what we did in Rajkot I think that would probably work best for us as a side. Have another guy at the top and then let KL just express himself at that position where he played really well,” Kohli added.

"In T20 cricket obviously the dynamics change a little bit more because we do have lower order batsmen who have done well. So we have a few more options in terms of solidifying that spot and letting KL bat at the top. As I said, him doing well with the gloves has really opened up a scenario for us where it gives us a lot more balance in playing an extra batsman and if he can keep playing that well, perform well with the bat, then why not.”