India vs New Zealand: 'Kohli, Bumrah are inspirations,' Rahul opens up about leading India for the 1st time

KL Rahul said he is "loving the challenges" being thrown at him after India completed a 5-0 whitewash over New Zealand on Sunday.

India defeated New Zealand by seven runs in the fifth and final T20I at Mount Maunganui's Bay Oval. The match did not feature captain Virat Kohli and in his absence, Rohit Sharma led the Indian side. However, he got retired hurt during the first innings and did not take the field when New Zealand came out to begin their chase.

Rahul, who has batted at multiple positions this series and also donned the wicketkeeping gloves, was made the stand-in-captain.

"It was a special feeling, leading your country is always the second dream - the first ones, of course, to play for your country. It was unfortunate what happened to Rohit.

Every day I wake up, every day I'm thrown a new responsibility. I'm very grateful and I'm loving the challenges being thrown at me. It was great to see how we responded without our main leaders - Rohit and Virat," the wicketkeeper-batsman added.

Acknowledging the efforts from the bowlers in the absence of Kohli and Rohit, Rahul said, "I can't do much (on bowling) from behind the stumps. They come up with their own plans, they set their own fields, and more often than not, they have executed what they wanted to do.

In a T20 you're bound to go for runs at times, but the way they've held their nerve, it's amazing to see."

The Karnataka batsman further added that while he is enjoying the multiple roles he is being given in the Indian team, he does not have to look beyond the Indian dressing room for inspiration.

"When you have such big players in the dressing room, you don't have to look elsewhere for inspiration. Be it Virat, Rohit, I see the way they play. In a way, Jasprit has been an inspiration. These boys perform consistently. We love spending time with each other. There is no junior or senior in the dressing room. We have a common goal that is to win games of cricket.

It is a big confidence booster to see the coaches; the support staff and the captain have belief in me. They have the faith that whatever the situation, they see me fit for that situation. That gives you a lot of confidence as a player. Whenever people trust you like this, it motivates you to work on your skills and be in the best mindset possible to deliver and perform for the team," Player of the Series Rahul explained during a post-match interview.