Trying to hit sixes of old ball, looking to score faster in middle overs: Rah

Indian batter K L Rahul says he has been trying to improve his game against the old ball to ensure that middle overs generate more runs for his team, which is looking to score in excess of 370 consistently in ODIs amid the growing trend of big targets getting chased down.

Rahul was speaking to ‘JioStar’ after his 87-ball 129-run knock in the third ODI against the West Indies in which India scored 351.
However, his innings, despite being impressive, could not prevent India’s loss in the series finale but the home team had already clinched the rubber by winning the first two games.

“It’s not been easy to get 80-90 in the last 10 overs. The ball’s been getting reverse swing, and even in this game, once the ball got old and soft, and started to reverse swing, as a batter you don’t feel confident enough to take on the long-on and deep mid-wicket fielder if it’s a big boundary on that side,” he said. “...I like the hard ball coming onto me, I can use the pace. So that’s something I’ve been working on, trying to play with softer, older balls and being able to hit sixes with that.

“I constantly try to get better within my own game, understand my role, understand what a number five and number six batter has to do to consistently put up performances for the team,” he added. 
Speaking about the road to the World Cup in South Africa next year, the 34-year-old from Bengaluru said the increasing number of high-scoring games, where even 350 is no longer a safe total, means that the middle-order needs to score quicker than ever to push for a higher score.