The batter used all his experience to lessen the pressure on India when England were in control
KL Rahul’s presence in the batting line-up for the England tour was essential for the Indian team soon after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from Tests before the series start.
Not only was Rahul the experienced head in a young team, he had the know-how of playing in tough conditions in the UK and he was scoring the scrappy yet most-important runs for his team.
In his last tour of England in 2021, Rahul averaged an impressive 39 but much more was needed of him in 2025. He left for the tour a week early, as soon as his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign was over with Delhi Capitals.
He scored a fluent hundred in Northampton where batting was a struggle and then followed it up with scores of 42, 137, 2, 55, 100, 39, 46, 90, 14 and 7 in the main series. Every time he set foot on the pitch, Rahul’s assured batting calmed things down for India as they drew a riveting series 2-2. He scored runs off boundaries that came off conventional shots against loose balls and gave the respect good bowling deserved.
His dismissals had come against unplayable deliveries which had a massive impact in the final result of the match.
His lbw on 39 at Lord’s put India’s chase of 193 under immense pressure as they eventually lost the match by a mere 22 runs. His 90 in the second innings at Old Trafford and a partnership of 188 with captain Shubman Gill helped India save the match and stay in contention.
ALSO READ:
Even while fielding, Rahul took six catches in the slips and remained the voice of reason while advising Gill with DRS calls.
Former India keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was full of praise for Rahul for keeping things in order.
“You got to understand. Just as the precursor to the series, the three big guns retired- Virat, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin. Now, walking into the series, there were two big names – one is KL Rahul and one is Jadeja. And lo and behold, KL Rahul has always had this great starts to many a series but not finished strong. But in this series that young boy has grown into a man,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Rahul finished the series with 532 runs from five matches, bettering his average from the previous tour to 53.2 which was the second best by an Indian opener in England Tests.
“I think he shouldered responsibility. He is probably the most technically sound player across both teams and he backed his technique. Under pressure, he said I will stick to my game plan and back my defensive skills and play long and I will get runs for India every game in the series. There was zero pressure when he batted, very sound in his defence and beautiful looking cover drive as you would expect,” Karthik added.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
