Karnataka batsman makes up for twin failures in Melbourne with typically compact knock in Sydney
This is the KL Rahul we know. Not the one who seemed all over the place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last week.
Putting behind his twin failures on debut, Rahul was back to his usual self at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday. Playing as an opener — just like he does for Karnataka and South Zone — Rahul completed his maiden Test hundred on Day Three of the final Test. The 22-year-old showed great patience, played each ball according to its merit and looked technically sound. This was the same Rahul who created waves in domestic circuit, scoring 2,000-plus first-class runs in two seasons to force his way into the Test side.
Rahul showed great character and grew in confidence in the company of captain Virat Kohli, who can't seem to anything wrong with the bat. While Kohli went onto score his fourth century of the series, Rahul needed only three Test innings to show the world what he is made of.
Yesteryear batting great GR Viswanath, who also hails from Karnataka, praised Rahul. "Between Melbourne and Sydney, some senior player must have told him that that was not the way to play Test cricket. I was really shocked that he played those kinds of shots continuously in the beginning of the innings itself," Viswanath told dna.
Rahul's anxiety to get off the mark in Melbourne saw him dance down the pitch and play an awkward flick to square-leg. He was dropped. Next ball, he played an expansive sweep only to be caught. If throwing away an opportunity in the first innings was not enough, Rahul, promoted from No. 6 to No. 3 in the second essay, top-edged a pull to be caught in the slips.
A week later, the right-hander ticked all the boxes in Sydney. He was in no hurry to score runs. He consumed a lot of balls. Even in the age of quick runs, Rahul played traditional cricket. There were 213 dot balls in his 262-ball knock. That's a whopping 81.29 per cent of deliveries either defended or left alone. Isn't that ample proof of his immense concentration levels and patience?
Rahul played like he belonged to the highest level. "When you have Virat (Kohli) at the other end, your confidence goes high. Rahul displayed very good shot selection, driving the ball beautifully. He was playing each ball on merit. This is what Rahul is all about. He still has a long way to go, though. He should emulate Virat if he has to stay there for a long time," said Viswanath, who aggregated 686 runs in 15 innings in Australia.
Rahul, who replaced the out-of-form Shikhar Dhawan, has definitely created doubts in the minds of the Delhi left-hander as far as the opener's slot is concerned. "Though it is too early to say that Vijay and Rahul should open the batting in Tests, Rahul's century will boost his confidence. Somebody who gets a Test hundred should be looked at for some more games. Having said that, just because of a couple of failures, Dhawan should not be ignored. He has also done well over the last year or so."
Viswanath said Rahul must work on his entire game in the nets. "Just because it is a short ball, it does not mean he has to pull or hook it. One needs to get to the top of the ball, especially on Australian pitches where the bounce is truer than in other countries. You have to keep working on the other areas in the nets. Nets is nothing but learning," said Viswanath, who thinks Rahul is "quite a nice boy".
From being written off as an "over-rated" batsman in Melbourne to turning the tide in Sydney, Rahul could well go onto emulate some of his illustrious Karnataka seniors on the world stage.
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