KL Rahul reveals bowling plans for 5th day of opening Test against England

Indian opener KL Rahul has revealed that their bowlers would look to bowl straight and not give too many boundary balls to English batters on the final day of the opening Test match at Leeds, Headingley on Tuesday. India has set up a target of 371 runs and England need another 350 runs to win with all 10 wickets in hand after they ended the penultimate day at 21-0.

Rahul admitted England batters would go hard for the target, which would also give them the opportunity to pick wickets. The flamboyant batter said the Leeds pitch is like a subcontinent track and there would be help for the bowlers as the cracks have opened up.

KL Rahul said in the post-day press conference, “I think the first two days, being as hot as it was, the pitch has taken a bit of beating. The crack seems like it’s opening up. There’s a bit of rough there, and the wicket is really dry. Mostly, it’s like a subcontinent wicket on day five.”

Rahul added they would need to be patient on the final day and bowl in the right channel.

He added, “Day five wicket won’t be as easy, but knowing how England play and their style of cricket, they’re going to come hard and try and score boundaries and try and score runs as quickly as possible. We need to keep that in the back of our heads and try and bowl as straight as we can. Try and be patient and really not give them those boundaries, make them earn their runs. It should be a very interesting day.”

Meanwhile, Rahul scored a brilliant knock of 137 runs and added 195 runs with Rishabh Pant to put India in front. But once again, the tourists suffered a batting collapse, losing the last six wickets for only 31 runs.