KL Rahul scored his second hundred at the Lord's.
KL Rahul on Saturday reached a rare space in cricketing history as he took a single off Jofra Archer with a lob to the cover in the third Test against England. The India opener reached his second hundred at the Lord’s, making him the 13th player to score two or more hundreds at the Mecca of Cricket. His previous century at the venue came in 2021. The 33-year-old is now the second Indian to have two hundreds besides former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar. It’s an honour that had eluded legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
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152/6
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126/7
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It was also the first-ever instance in Rahul’s 11-year Test career where he scored more than one hundred in one series.
Rahul’s century was laced with 13 boundaries, coming at a strike rate of 56.49.
Besides the 100 off 177 balls adding to India’s matching first innings total of 387 all out, Rahul’s partnerships of 62 with Karun Nair (40) and 141 with Rishabh Pant (74) put India on equal footing with England in the match as both totals collided in the first innings.
Pant’s stay of 112 balls was studded with eight boundaries and two sixes. It included several audacious shots where he stumbled over in his crease while sending the ball over the ropes. There was also a hilarious stretch of his feet to stop a Chris Woakes delivery from hitting the stumps after he chopped it onto the pads.
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After the third day, when England were 2/0 after facing one dramatic over from Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul lauded Pant for audacity and innovation and said he wished he could bat like the southpaw.
“I thoroughly enjoy batting with him. When he’s batting with me, I look at the way he bats and wish I could do that. Sometimes, I sit there and dream of playing shots like that and also with that mindset and attitude,” Rahul told reporters after Day 3 when questioned about batting with Pant.
Rahul’s knock included several delectable drives through offside and classical front-foot defence against swing bowling, along with a cross-batted pull shot behind square against short balls.
Indian pacers built upon Rahul’s contribution by removing four wickets in the first session of Day 4. Mohammed Siraj got the first two wickets while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep got one each.
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