KL Rahul embarks on a new journey with flair and prudence
It was only the fifth delivery of KL Rahul’s innings. Kagiso Rabada, fresh after Lunch and having dismissed Shreyas Iyer with a peach, bowled a short delivery outside off, which Rahul tried to hook, albeit half-heartedly. The ball climbed sharply, and the batter missed his shot.
Rabada had bowled well, as he always does in these conditions, and while Rahul couldn’t connect, he gave a glimpse of his superior technique. Rahul rolled his wrists and kept the face of his willow precise, trying to keep the ball low, and even if he had connected, he was more or less safe. He finally pulled one off Rabada on the first delivery of the next over when the bowler dug one hard into the pitch, targetting the body.
KL Rahul again kept it low and hard enough to give no chance to the short leg, Tony de Zorzi, as the ball raced away to the boundary. Rohit Sharma couldn’t do it despite being one of the best players of the shot and succumbed to a short delivery. On a pitch with uneven bounce, Rahul, new to the crease, got under the ball with finesse.
Rahul wasn’t premeditating anything; he was proactive, a recipe for success in such extreme conditions. When Marco Jansen bowled a fuller-length ball, Rahul swiftly leaned forward with an open bat face to guide it between point and gully with a gentle square drive. He let the ball come to him and didn’t throw himself towards it to lose his head position.
Two deliveries later, Jansen tried a back-of-a-length delivery, but Rahul picked it up ferociously towards midwicket to find his second boundary of the over. The technique was never in doubt with Rahul; the clarity, which has so often been questioned, was impressive during his stay. Obviously, he was lucky at times, but every batter requires a small chunk of luck to go their way in such hostile conditions.
There is a cliche – batters should forget the last delivery and focus on the next ball in Test cricket. Rahul literally embodied it on a tricky Centurion deck. Despite getting beaten off a length delivery on the previous ball, Rahul went for his shot on a slightly fuller delivery left to the gully fielder.
It was a knock where the batting kept getting arduous for Rahul in multiple ways. When Rahul arrived, Rabada was breathing fire and growing through his best spell of the innings. Secondly, the sun was out, baking an already precarious deck, and the ball started behaving more notoriously. Further, while Rahul looked compact, his partners couldn’t apply themselves. When Shardul Thakur lost his wicket, India reeled at 164/7, with KL on 29. The remaining batters could hardly save their wicket on that pitch, leaving Rahul to do all the heavy lifting.
A standout performance!🔥🔥#KLRahul pic.twitter.com/lkz5mv8rGt
— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) December 27, 2023
Rahul was still prudent with his approach and didn’t pounce on everything. He skimmed lengths and started hitting on the up, mostly taking the aerial route. Rahul went hard with his shot, taking calculative risks every time he got even the slightest width.
Also Read: Watch: Brilliant thinking from KL Rahul sees him sneak a bye with ball in keeper’s hand
He added 81 runs with the last three batters, scoring 72 while playing 63.49% of deliveries alone. Rahul farmed the strike brilliantly, easing the way for tailenders as much as possible. KL also amassed ten boundaries and three maximums to take India to a safe score of 245.
“Rahul is turning out to be a man of crisis for us. Every time there are tough situations, he is the guy who handles it well for us. Nothing special. He was clear with his game plans, defended the right balls, attacked the right ones,” exclaimed Vikram Rathour, India’s batting coach.
Since KL wants to cement his place as a middle-order batter, he needs to learn batting with tailenders, as such situations will arrive every now and then, especially in overseas conditions. The signs are encouraging, even though it was just the first instance. Rahul had constant chats with his lower-order partners, encouraging them to hang in there.
Despite negotiating with quality bowlers and playing risky shots to accumulate quick runs, Rahul was in control for most of the innings. He left the ball well and played the ball late, close to his body, with a stable head, and his hand-eye coordination has always been noticeable. These were also the most significant parts of his century on the same ground on the last tour and, in fact, in most of his famous Test knocks in recent years.
A large % of his runs came square of the wickets because of his ability to delay his shots as much as possible. Then, his high backlift helped him get on top of the bounce on most of the short balls.
Fittingly, Rahul thwacked one over deep midwicket; a shot came off the middle of the bat to notch up his eighth Test ton. He removed his helmet and swirled the bat in delight towards the dressing room with a confident face. That celebration summed up this knock: crafty and gritty.
Centurion at Centurion once again! 🫡#KLRahul, TAKE A BOW!#TeamIndia‘s new keeper-batter rises to the occasion & brings up a memorable ton under tough circumstances.
His success mantra – Always #Believe!
Tune in to #SAvIND 1st Test
LIVE NOW | Star Sports Network pic.twitter.com/tYoDZNNJsV— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 27, 2023
It was only his second Test knock outside the top three, and Rahul aced it with class and skill. It was a fresh start to Rahul’s Test career as a middle-order batter, and he was thrown into a predicament straightaway. The conditions were severe, and the opponent was ruthless.
To his credit, Rahul was up for it and reacted sapiently. When Rahul notched up tons in England and South Africa previously, he opened the innings. Not that those knocks came in easy conditions, but this was a completely different challenge, demanding changes regularly.
Rishabh Pant had done it numerous times in the past, and his absence was always going to be an issue. However, Rahul got a chance to prove himself in the absence of Rishabh Pant, and he didn’t miss. To score a century in the middle order is a strenuous task in South Africa, where the conditions for batting keep getting rigorous, and even more for an opener playing only his second knock, the first of which came nine years ago, at an unfavourable position.
“This is the best hundred of his career,” exclaimed Ravi Shastri on air as Rahul soaked in all the applause. Not many would disagree. This knock might be the start of something special for KL Rahul, the middle-order Test batter.
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