'Look forward to enjoying responsibility' - Rahul steps into the hot seat

KL Rahul has led India in 12 ODIs, three Tests and one T20I and as before he slips into the hot seat again with the regular captain injured. He sees himself as one of India's finishers, having hit the winning runs in the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia and being out there when those winning runs were scored in the final against New Zealand as well.

"Just a day before the announcement, I was told that the opportunity might come and I might have to lead," Rahul said on the eve of the first ODI against South Africa in Ranchi on Sunday. "I have captained the side before. It is something that is very exciting. I look forward to enjoying that responsibility. I have always enjoyed responsibility, making the right decisions for the team. That's about it. I don't think too much about it."

Rahul will have the support of a generation of players that have played together for a long time and he was keen to tap into them as India build up towards the 2027 ODI World Cup.

"I obviously have Rohit [Sharma], Virat [Kohli], Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja], all the senior players around me who will help out," Rahul said. "How we have all played our cricket is to think of it as we are all leaders and we try and do the best for the team. That continues whether I am captain or someone else is captain. It is always a collective effort to doing something in the direction of a bigger goal."

The most recent memory of Rahul on a cricket field, however, was a mis-hit where he reached out to a Simon Harmer offbreak trying to play a drive but was beaten by the drift and dip to be bowled. India were trying to leave day four in Guwahati unscathed. They weren't quite able to and sunk to a heavy defeat.

"There is no regret of not trying a different shot," Rahul said when asked if he might have been served better by going down the track, if only to defend. "There is a regret of executing what I did.

"It is a Test format. At the stage that I was playing, it was the last few overs of the day. I don't think that's the right time for me to try and step down and hit the bowler for a boundary.

"Looking back, yes, maybe I would have [come down and blocked it] but it was only the second ball of the over. If I had stepped down and gotten out, maybe that would have been a question mark in my own head as to whether that was right or wrong. At that point in time, I think defending was the right option to do which I didn't do well enough."

The damage done by visiting spinners at home has turned the spotlight on the India batters ability against the turning ball.

"I don't know why we were better in playing spin before and not so good now," Rahul said. "There are a lot of reasons. But we can just think about how we can do better as players. How individually we can do better and when in six-seven months we are in a similar situation against Sri Lanka [away] and the home series against Australia, so how we can do better and what are the technical changes we need to make. These are things we'll individually seek answers. And like you said, we used to play spin very well before so we'll reach out to those players and try to learn something from our seniors."