KL Rahul reveals his pre-lunch conversation with Rishabh Pant, which resulted in his run out

Indian opening batter KL Rahul, who made it to the Lord’s honours board after scoring an exceptional century on Day 3 against England, has revealed that he had a conversation with keeper-batter Rishabh Pant on getting to his landmark before lunch.

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Before the last over ahead of lunch, Rahul was batting on 97 runs in 170 balls, and he was aiming to get to the milestone before the break. In a bid to get Rahul on strike, Pant got run out, courtesy of Ben Stokes’ direct hit.

"Not ideal. There was a conversation a couple of overs before that: I told him [Pant] that I would get my hundred, if possible, before lunch. And with Bashir bowling that last over before lunch, I thought there was a good chance for me to get it, but, yeah, unfortunately, I hit straight to the fielder,” KL Rahul said at the post-day press conference.

Speaking on the run-out, Rahul stated that it shouldn’t have happened as that particular wicket had changed the course of the game after lunch. Right after Rahul reached his landmark after lunch break, he got out to Shoaib Bashir.

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"It was a ball that I could have hit for a boundary. Then he just wanted me to rotate strike and see if he could put me back on strike. But, yeah, it shouldn't have happened: a run out at that stage really changed the momentum. It was disappointing for both of us. Obviously, nobody wants to throw their wicket like that,” he added.

Interestingly, India managed to level England’s score of 387 before getting bundled out on Day 3, with no team taking an advantage in the first innings. Rahul reckoned that none of the top five batters converted their scores into bigger ones, which could’ve changed the game’s complexion.

"Of course, there's a little bit of disappointment because till just before tea time, we were in a really good position. Obviously, me and Rishabh got that long partnership and then we both got out [in quick succession] - he got out just before lunch and I got out just after lunch. That wasn't ideal, so you had set batters in the top five who had got off to starts, so ideally you want one of them or both to go on and get a big score and that's how you get ahead in a Test match,” he stated.

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