On a dry pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Rahul opened the batting in the absence of an unfit Faf du Plessis and was at 25 off 20 balls, before flicking a switch to hit 36 off his next 18 balls and make 77 off 51 balls.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
His superb knock, laced with six fours and three sixes, including taking down CSK\u2019s strike bowler Noor Ahamd meant DC made 183\/6, which was enough to get them a win in Chennai after 15 years and maintain their unbeaten run in the competition.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I've worked really hard on my white-ball game in the last year or so. Big shoutout to Abhishek Nayar. I've worked a lot with him ever since he's come into the Indian team. We've spent hours and hours together talking about my white-ball game and how I can be better.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cWe worked hours and hours together in Bombay and somewhere I have found the fun playing white-ball cricket,\" said Rahul to DC mentor Kevin Pietersen in a video chat on iplt20.com on Sunday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rahul had missed DC\u2019s first game due to paternity leave and on return against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he hit an aggressive five-ball 15 before unleashing a knock in the same vein and on a larger scale against CSK.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cKnowing that the opposition struggled as much as I did in the middle and they couldn't get over the line and get the victory, so it feels good now. But in the middle, I felt I left 15-20 runs at the back end. At the halfway stage when we had the chat and I remember telling you that I'm going to look to hit my pockets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cI was still in, and I think I had good intent. I was still looking to score boundaries but just wasn't timing the ball too well. A little bit of a break really helped me. The minute I went back on, I got one in the middle, hit the ball in the gap and I got going after that,\" added Rahul.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rahul had come into the competition after shining brightly as India\u2019s designated finisher in the victorious 2025 Champions Trophy campaign, where he scored 140 runs at a strike rate of 97.90 and remained unbeaten thrice.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rahul also talked about his new approach to playing white-ball cricket from the realisation that he has to adapt to the modern way of being relevant in the game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I think somewhere along the way I lost that fun of hitting boundaries and hitting sixes. I wanted to take the game deep, deep, deep and that somehow stuck in my head. But now I have realised I need to go back. Cricket's changed, and T20 cricket, especially, is only about hitting boundaries.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Rahul also talked about his new approach to playing white-ball cricket from the realisation that he has to adapt to the modern way of being relevant in the game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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