KL Rahul revealed he was prepared to bat again as India’s final pair held on during the closing stages of Day 4 in the third Test against Australia in Brisbane. With rain disrupting the match multiple times, India’s clear goal on Day 4, starting at 51/4 in reply to Australia’s 445, was to avoid the follow-on.
Rahul played a key role with a vital 84 off 139 balls, supported by Ravindra Jadeja’s 77 off 123. Despite their efforts, India fell to 213/9, still 33 runs short of forcing Australia to bat again. Surprisingly, Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep stitched an unbeaten 39-run stand for the final wicket, ensuring India avoided the follow-on.
Speaking after Day 4, Rahul told News18 at the press conference:
“I was thinking more about going and padding up and trying to go back to bat. Probably you don’t know, I’m not sure if they would have enforced the follow-on. So I was thinking about what I need to do with my batting.”
“Very good to see when the lower order chips in and scores runs. That’s something that we discuss a lot in our meetings and the bad, the bowlers work really hard on their batting as well.”
He further added:
“And so yeah, it’s really good to see that they could go there and get that, get that little partnership and avoid the follow-on. Makes a huge difference. Knowing that there’s a bit of rain around and so much of the game has been lost today, we need to find a way to stay in the game. And I think Akash and Bumrah did that at the end.”
“They put in a lot of effort in the nets”- KL Rahul
KL Rahul lauded the Indian bowlers for diligently improving their batting in the nets, expressing satisfaction as their efforts paid off during a critical moment in the Brisbane Test. Bumrah faced 27 balls for his unbeaten 10, while No.11 Akash Deep remains unbeaten on 27 off 31 deliveries.
“It’s always nice to see your bowlers going out there scoring some runs. They really put in the work in the nets. They work really hard and when it mattered today, I’m happy that they could really play some shots and very exciting shots and it was a great contest at the end.”
“The last half an hour they batted that part, not just the runs that they got, just the heart that they showed to keep away the bouncers,” said Rahul.
With uncertain weather on December 18, and Australia needing to bat again, a draw seems likely. If so, the series will be tied 1-1 ahead of the Boxing Day Test on December 26 in Melbourne.
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