ENG vs IND: KL Rahul, the back-up back-up opener, who saved India
One’s misfortune can be someone else’s fortune, and this line fits well for the Indian opener slot. An opportunity for Mayank Agarwal opened up when Shubman Gill got injured, the passing of opportunities continued as Mayank was ruled out of the first Test and KL Rahul got a chance. A century in the warm-up match would have certainly made his case stronger.
Rahul’s selection might not have been straightforward, though; India could have tried to open with Cheteshwar Pujara with Hanuma Vihari at No. 3 or the other way around. The Indian team would be happy with their decision, as the skipper Virat Kohli backed Rahul. Kohli had also backed Rahul immensely when the latter was going through an awful patch in the previous overseas cycle. Now, Rahul may have cemented his spot for the rest of the series.
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The challenge and the opening partnership:
Opening in England against their potent pace attack in Test cricket is arguably the toughest job in cricket. The expectations were understandably low, particularly from Rahul. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was about how long they could escape. But, the Indian openers survived, and how they did!
The opening pair of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma lasted for 231 balls and added 97 runs for the first wicket – the longest partnership of the game so far.
Rohit & Rahul have now faced 200+ deliveries here.
This is the 1st time since 2007 that an Indian opening pair has lasted 200+ deliveries in SENA Tests.
Wasim Jaffer & Dinesh Karthik were the last pair to do it against the same opposition and at the same venue.#ENGvIND
— Prasenjit Dey
(@CricPrasen) August 5, 2021
The openers applied themselves; they were determined to survive. Rohit and Rahul showed applaudable resistance but were also pretty good at utilising the scoring opportunities at the same time. Sure, they were aided by some luck, but they do deserve a bit of leeway considering false shots in such conditions will always be high.
Rahul, in particular, was more cautious of the two, perhaps because he was playing a Test match after a long gap. However, both were good at driving when the bowlers pitched the ball full or overpitched it.
KL Rahul has left 31% of the deliveries he’s faced, compared to Rohit’s 21%. 9% of ball’s bowled to Rahul would have hit the stumps; for Rohit, 4%. #ENGvIND
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 5, 2021
Rahul got more fluent as he played more. His knock is explained in detail further in the article.
KL Rahul’s unexpected show:
Rahul started very cautiously; he, along with Rohit, looked to just survive in the third session of Day 1 as there wasn’t enough time left for the play. He was looking to leave the balls as much as he could; KL’s control percentage dropped below 100%, for the first time, on the 18th ball of his innings – according to ESPNcricinfo. He finished Day 1, scoring just 9 runs off 39 balls.
Cometh Day 2, Rahul was very well tested by Robinson and Anderson. They angled the ball into him by bowling from wide of the crease, and Rahul didn’t look at home, even more so when the ball straightened after pitching. Anderson also bowled a bit short, to make him play more balls, as Rahul is pretty tall and was standing inside the crease.
He edged a few balls but they didn’t carry to the slips as he played late with soft hands. However, Rahul maintained his calm despite scoring just 12 off his first 79 deliveries.
KL Rahul false shot percentage in this Test:
Day 2 – 25%
Day 3 – 15%#ENGvIND— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 6, 2021
Rahul, who was 17 (89) at one point in time, accelerated in style as he raced to 48 (124) by Lunch. He accumulated 31 runs off just 35 balls, thanks to his elegant drives against Broad and Curran. They pitched the ball full and the opener made the most of the scoring opportunities and gained some much-needed confidence.
In the second session, the visitors suffered a collapse as James Anderson got crazy. Rahul was also tested but he was lucky, apart from the fact that he applied himself. He was dropped at 52 by Sibley but before that he survived some great bowling by Anderson. The second session was short, with the third one being of just three balls. Rahul finished the day scoring 57 (151).
Rahul didn’t contribute much while batting with Pant, however, formed an extremely crucial partnership of 60 runs with Ravindra Jadeja on Day 3. Rahul was again dropped at 78 in slips, by Joe Root; however, he couldn’t last long as he got out on 84.
Rahul’s knock was a classic one in English conditions. He bid his time when he needed to, got a bit of luck and played beautiful square and cover drives. Anderson and Robinson made Rahul’s life difficult, by forcing him to make errors. He had a chat or two with Robinson and the latter even pushed Rahul with his shoulder.
Even though Broad drew a few false shots, his over-pitched deliveries helped Rahul. Also, Sam Curran didn’t pose any major challenge.
A few technical talks on KL Rahul’s knock:
Rahul’s knock was defined by utilising the depth of the crease and playing the ball late. He was batting well inside the crease and didn’t over-commit himself on the front foot. Another thing Rahul employed was that he removed his bat at the eleventh hour to avoid edges at times. He also hid his bat behind the pads deliberately on a few occasions.
His major scoring areas were square of the wicket and the cover region. The right-hander played beautiful square drives, back-foot punches and cover drives.
Rahul has also tweaked his stance a bit: his back-lift is lower, his bat is pointing towards third-slip or gully rather than the wicket-keeper or the first-slip and his toes are towards point rather than covers. The first picture in the below graphic is from his last knock, of 149 runs, in 2018.
A few technical tweaks helped KL Rahul in having a good outing in the first Test. | Match pics: ecb.co.uk
Now, these changes are minor but help Rahul in countering the movement better. The bat alignment helps Rahul in bringing down his bat in time. Also, the changes in toe position ensure that he is not vulnerable against in-coming deliveries.
Also, while playing drives or his shots in 2018, he threw his hands towards the ball. However, Rahul avoided it in this knock. He wasn’t accurate like a robot with these tweaks, but he was successful more often than not and his application is commendable.
The changes in his trigger movements are discussed in the below Instagram post.
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Rahul missed his century and he was disappointed but Jadeja and the tailenders ensured an excellent lead. India are in the driver’s seat, and Rahul would be happy to make a great contribution. The team management would want him to continue this way and progress even further.