India vs Sri Lanka: My reading of the game has gotten a lot better, says in-form KL Rahul

India opener KL Rahul feels he has become better at reading the game and building his innings when asked about his consistent performances recently in the white ball formats.

Rahul is enjoying a good run in limited overs cricket having hit two hundreds and three half centuries in the ODIs and to top it up, three more fifty plus scores in T20s in 2019. He picked up where he left off last year with an impressive innings in Indore against Sri Lanka.

Chasing 143, India defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the second T20 on Tuesday, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Rahul scored 45 off 32 balls.

“I’ve just been getting runs and the reading of the game has gotten a lot better and knowing how to build my innings again,” Rahul told broadcasters Star Sports after India’s victory. “I felt that was lacking and I always knew I had the game to get the runs and it was just a matter of spending time in the middle. Really happy to carry on the same way.”

The Karnataka batsman also credited his good run in the domestic circuit after being dropped from the Test side for his good run of form.

Rahul credited the bowlers for restricting the visitors to a below par score. Navdeep Saini turned up the heat during his spell of 2/18 and Shardul Thakur picked up three wickets in one over. Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah chipped in as well.

“It was a smaller target and my plans were simple which is to spend some time in the middle. Our bowlers bowled really well and anything around 170 on this wicket would have been par. A lot of credit must go to the bowlers,” Rahul said.

In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Rahul partnered with Shikhar Dhawan to put up a 71-run opening stand and 27-year-old said that he enjoys batting with both his senior opening partners.

“We all go out there with a simple plan which is to win the game for your country. He (Rohit) makes it look so easy and I’ve always batted with Shikhar especially at the start of my Test career and we understand each other well and I just enjoy batting with both of them,” Rahul said.