Kolkata: Fact: Four of India’s five highest opening partnerships in England this century have featured KL Rahul. Fact: Seven of Rahul’s eight Test hundreds have come as an opener, six of them away from home. Fact: The rate of fifty and hundred conversion—seven hundreds and 14 fifties in 54 innings – doesn’t live up to the promise Rahul has long held. Almost 60 Tests into his career, that remains an enduring truth. Friday, then, added another chapter to the theme of what could have been – had Rahul been more judicious.
Vexing, indeed, was how it all ended. Until that wide, full-pitched delivery from Brydon Carse found a thick edge en route to Joe Root, Rahul looked to have his game locked in. There was that one expansive drive in the fourth over off Carse, where a thick outside edge flew through the gully region, but little after that suggested Rahul was vulnerable. He shouldered arms to deliveries that nipped away sharply, blocked those that came in, and appeared completely in the zone – one that could nag England into rethinking their tactics.
Ben Stokes bringing himself on as early as the 16th over was evidence of the impatience creeping into England’s approach, with India cruising at 52 without loss. Off his first ball, Stokes nearly broke Rahul’s concentration with a good-length delivery angling into off-stump but leaving him late after pitching. Rahul initially looked committed to the shot, then pulled the bat away at the last moment. Three balls later, he was drawn into a big drive, but Stokes again got the ball to move away.
The cat-and-mouse game continued. Then, Stokes induced another drive – but this time Rahul connected cleanly, the ball flying over the slip cordon for four. Rahul again drove the next ball but this time with a better degree of command and so the thick edge rolled past gully. It wasn’t until the following over that Rahul truly got on top of Stokes, predictably through another drive. High elbow, toe pointed to mid-off, a high backlift translating into a flowing shot worthy of framing – Rahul was beginning to come into his own. And with it, came a steady uptick in runs.
Perhaps because we’re not used to seeing it, we don’t often acknowledge it enough but Rahul has often been the reason India have batted out challenging first sessions with authority. The line between success and failure was often razor-thin, and Rahul quietly faded into the afterglow of someone else’s brilliance.
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s start was explosive, if a little streaky. Rahul, by contrast, was rock solid early, before gradually shifting gears. Jaiswal will take the headlines – but spare a thought for Rahul. Not often do you find a batter finally assured of his place in the eleven after playing for more than a decade.
Which is why this series finally feels like the one where Rahul’s career could truly take flight. It could have started at Headingley – day one of the first Test, after all the hard yards had been put in. So, when Carse returned, and Rahul immediately carted him for a boundary, you could sense it happening. It was perhaps Rahul’s classiest shot of the innings: a length ball picked early, the bat opened to carve it through cover point for a sumptuous boundary.
But Carse went back to the classic tactic of throwing the ball wide, and waiting for the batter to err. Probably too full to be driven like that? Or maybe just a lapse in concentration? Either way, Rahul can’t quite be faulted for backing himself. Sometimes, even with the right intent, things don’t unfold the way you want them to.
No one knows that better than KL Rahul.
