India’s wicket-keeper bat KL Rahul was delighted after they defeated Australia in a three-match ODI series by 2-1. Australia won the final ODI of the series by 66 runs at the Saurashtra Cricket Association, Rajkot on Wednesday.
Rahul admitted Australia have always had the edge over them in India in the last couple of years. India has a potent record in bilateral series while playing in their own conditions but Australia had beaten them by 2-1, earlier in the year.
India took an impregnable lead of 2-0 after winning the first two ODI matches convincingly. The hosts had won the opening game by five wickets whereas they won the second by 99 runs (DLS method). KL Rahul, who led the team in the first two matches in the absence of full-time skipper Rohit Sharma, led from the front as he scored two half-centuries.
“Yeah, I mean, the last few weeks have been the same mindset for everybody. The Asia Cup was really important for us. Every game was a must win game, almost. You’re playing really competitive teams the same. It was the same here in this series.
“You’re playing a great Australian team, and they’ve always had the edge over us in India in the last couple of years,” Rahul was quoted as saying to Jio Cinema.
Rahul added that every player is made aware of his specific role in the team and they are trying their best to get the job done for the team.
“So, yeah, we’re just trying to do our roles as well as we can and put ourselves under pressure. There’s a lot of talk with the coaches. We were given very specific, very clear roles, and we were asked to try and execute that as best we could and I think everybody tried to do that. And luckily, a lot of guys did that really well. So that gives us confidence. And hopefully, we can build on that and get better,” he added.
Before winning the ODI series against Australia, India also lifted their eighth Asia Cup title and thus they will enter the World Cup high on confidence.
India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on October 8.
