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On October 10, Tuesday, at the pre-match press conference before India takes on Afghanistan, the batting coach Vikram Rathour said that there is no temptation of playing KL Rahul at number four in the team management. In their second match of the ODI World Cup 2023, which will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, the Indian cricket team will have the chance to win two matches in succession, to start their campaign in grand style.
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Team India secured a victory in their first match of the flagship tournament against the five-time champions Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai by six wickets. The Men in Blue chased down the target of 200 runs in a comfortable manner, thanks to Virat Kohli and KL Rahul resurrecting their innings after an early collapse after the bowlers bundled out the Aussies within their allotted 50 overs.
Speaking to the press, Vikram Rathour, the Indian batting coach talked about how well KL Rahul took to his role of batting at number five while shouldering the responsibility of being the wicket-keeper of the team. But still, he reiterated that the team management is happy with him at his current position in the batting order while reminding everyone that he won’t be replacing Shreyas Iyer at number four.
He was quoted as saying, “No temptation of playing KL Rahul at number 4. We will play Shreyas Iyer at number 4.”
Notably, when India was 2-3 in their pursuit of 200 against Australia, KL Rahul rushed out to bat in a hurry, but it didn’t deter him in terms of concentrating on the task at hand. He stitched together a 165-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Virat Kohli to not only bring the Men in Blue out of trouble but also stayed not out on 97, to take his team over the line for a big win to start the ODI World Cup 2023.
