KL Rahul, for all his talent and pedigree, has not hit his stride in Test cricket. He flickers for a brief period but then throws his wicket away in a rush. His dismissal in the second innings at Antigua was abject - he attempted to sweep Roston Chase and the ball crashed into his stumps.
The right-hander conceded that he needs to be more patient but refused to be drawn into the cliches of technique. "Technique and everything is over-rated - when you get runs everything looks good. So it was important for me to spend time in the middle," he said during the media conference at the end of third day's play.
'Lot of things I'm doing right'
He insisted that he was doing a few things right and now needs to buckle down and show a bit more patience.
"(I am) very disappointed but there are a lot of things I'm doing right. (I) Just need to keep my head down and show some patience," he further added.
He spoke about how he looked comfortable in both the innings and how he seamlessly got a good start owing to the good head-space he finds himself in.
"... If I can keep my patience and keep batting the way I do in the first 60-80 balls, if I continue to do that for 200-250 balls then it'll obviously benefit me and the team," Rahul further added.
Speaking about the choice of stroke, Rahul revealed that when playing against a spinner and when playing a paddle sweep, there is a certain degree of pre-meditation. However, he was quick to concede that he did not execute the stroke as planned.
"I was thinking about runs and since I hit him for a boundary before the (wicket-taking) ball, I knew he would try to bowl a better length which would be easy for me to paddle. Unfortunately, I didn't execute the shot really well," the right-hander added.
Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were involved in a century stand for the fourth wicket and when the stumps were drawn to mark the end of the day's play, India had got themselves into a solid position. The score at the end of Day 3 reads 185 for 3 and India led by 260 runs and have seven wickets in the bag.
