Kolkata: Expectation never rested easily on KL Rahul, more so after a promising start that saw him score hundreds at Sydney, Colombo and Kingston on his first three tours in 2014-15. Indian batters aren’t granted a quiet entry. And there Rahul was, setting the pulse racing with his tempered aggression and silken touch. Slipping from that high into a limbo where he was repeatedly uncertain of a place in the eleven before being passed over for captaincy, this is as challenging a terrain as it can get for a cricketer. Where does he go from here?
Rahul is 33. It may still be his destiny to be remembered as a remarkable batter with an envious record. Most batting greats find their feet in their early 20s before having to deal with doubts that creep in. In Rahul’s case though, it didn’t help that almost immediately after his debut he found himself pushed around in the batting order when he should have been slowly nudged into the batting core. Ill-managed transitions and quick-fix strategies are to blame for this, something Indian cricket has been guilty of countless times.
He has also not enjoyed the rub of the green. Conviction wasn’t always top-notch. Commanding where comfortable, quiet elsewhere, Rahul’s returns haven’t always justified the talent he emerged with. It didn’t also help that he appeared distant. Virat Kohli commanded the camera even in his most vulnerable phase, but Rahul always looked human. The numbers don’t lie too. Rahul averages 39.62 at home, 25.72 in Australia, 28.38 in South Africa, and most relevantly — 34.11 in England. Shubman Gill is the captain, and considering the long rope India captains normally get these days, it’s almost certain Rahul won’t ever be captain. Which leaves him with the next best job – raise his game and become India’s batting lynchpin.
This is significant too because never has the absence of senior players since the early 2010s looked this acute for India. The buck stops with the captain but without support from players who can influence the game, confidence can take a beating. For a long time the batting group has had one or more selfless seniors who would happily pass on their insights. India now find themselves in a position where a man who has played only three Tests in England has been chosen to lead there. In hindsight, Kohli’s absence looks like an irreparable loss. But it’s also an opportunity for Rahul to find his calling.
That it comes in England of all places must be good news. Across nine Tests over two tours in 2018 and 2021-22, Rahul has scored 597 runs, including two centuries. That he opened in all but one of those Tests must work in his favour when the team management convenes to pick Yashasvi Jaiswal’s partner. Though there is still no clarity on who will bat at No.4 if Gill comes in at one-drop, Rahul’s numbers as opener in England boosts his case. India also need that bit of assurance at the top considering the largely inexperienced batting order till Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja come in.
Rahul needs this as well. He would love another opportunity to prove he isn’t a wasted talent. He has had a quiet ascendency in the past 18 months — he hit 66 (India’s top score) in the 2023 ODI World Cup final, an unbeaten 34 in the 2025 Champions Trophy final, and enjoyed a rich vein of form in IPL where he scored a hundred for the first time since 2022. But red-ball cricket is where he must peak.
The hesitation in putting so much faith in Rahul is not without reason. Since averages are still a definitive way of measuring a batter’s worth in red-ball cricket, Rahul’s career curve raises a few red flags. Between December, 2016 and September, 2018 he didn’t hit a hundred even though he was averaging around 33. That dropped to 22.23 across 15 Tests between 2018 and 2019, making his position untenable. He made a resounding comeback on the 2021 tour of England, scoring 84 in the first Test at Nottingham and an admirable 129 at Lord’s before going off the boil. A pulsating hundred at Centurion a few months later raised hope, but he again went off the radar for nearly two years.
There are mitigating factors though. Not always being the first pick meant the pressure to perform was a tad higher than for the rest. Add to it injuries that sidelined him for several months at a time.
Rahul cares though. When the rest of the side was falling to flashy shots in Australia on the last tour, he built his innings by leaving the ball. He faced 551 balls in that series, next only to Jaiswal’s 732, though the resistance didn’t always translate into big runs.
But India’s batting is in a generational flux, probably why it’s not the worst thing to let Rahul navigate through the choppy waters early on and set the stage for the rest. There wouldn’t be a greater act of leadership if Rahul pulls that off.
