After a nearly three-month layoff due to a sports hernia and Covid-19, KL Rahul is happy to be back in the Indian dressing room. Six years after breaking into white-ball cricket in Zimbabwe, Rahul returned to the country as India's captain. It was only his second full series as captain when he took the field on Thursday.

"I always see myself as a player first," Rahul said on the eve of the first ODI. “I'm only a captain or a leader when I cross the line. We've played together for a long time. The same group, we've toured before. Even though there are a lot of youngsters, we've played a lot of IPL cricket together and against each other.

"There is a lot of respect for the talent everybody has, and how they've performed and how far they've come in their careers. It's good fun. For me, I've been away for two months. Just to get back into the Indian dressing room and just to have that chat and laughter around the group is great."

In the time he's been away, Rahul has seen competition for places heat up, especially in the T20I setup. But he spoke glowingly about the team environment and how players coming back from injuries aren't insecure about their position. Rahul said he benefitted from knowing his work over the past two years, prior to the injury, wasn't going to be forgotten.

"It's very important for any player," he said, when asked about the team management's communication. "When the selectors and captain-coach back you, it gives you so much more confidence. Your mindset is clear. You can focus on things that are necessary and things that are important: your game and skill.

"It makes it easy for a player knowing your support team is backing you and they believe you even though you've had a two-month gap, but they haven't forgotten what you've done for the team and for the country for the last two-three years. So that gives you a lot of confidence. "Players develop in those situations when you create a harmonious environment and give players confidence. That's when a good player can become a better player who can play more winning innings for the team.

Rahul's last competitive match came in May. While in rehab, he benefited from "taking the good with the bad" and accepting circumstances beyond his control. If he plans to return, Rahul hopes to rekindle some happy memories in Harare ahead of the bigger challenges of the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup. "My ODI and T20I debut was in Harare, I got 100 in my first match, so I have a lot of memories here," he said. "I hope you add the memories. To come back after so many years and get the chance to lead your country, of course, when you look back, it's very nice. You came as a player. It made me very happy. Hopefully, can add to those good memories and play some good cricket over the next week."

The one thing he won't do, though, is be someone else, even if it may be tempting enough to try and copy styles of leadership that made MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli successful across formats. "I don't compare myself [with Dhoni or Kohli's captaincy style]," he said. "The names you've mentioned, I can't even compare myself with them as a leader because their achievements are far greater. What they've done for the country, I don't think anyone else must be put in the same breath.

"I'm still young, this is just my second series as captain. Obviously, I've played under them, have learnt a lot from them. As players in the team, you learn from each other over the years. You learn good qualities from your fellow team-mates, and I've picked up good qualities from these guys.

"But my personality is such, I feel only when a captain is true to himself, it spreads to the other players. I am a calm person, so I can't go out there and try to be someone else. I don't think it's fair to the team, me or the game. I try to be myself and let other players be themselves, express themselves however they want. There is no pressure on players to be different. "