KL Rahul’s consistent inconsistency
There are times when it seems like everything is against you. KL Rahul might have experienced this on Sunday, a joyous day for his team because they won the series 2-0 and kept the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but perhaps a day tinged with sadness for him.
Rahul would have felt a little under pressure as India started their 115-run chase because he had only registered a top score of 23 in his previous nine Test innings. When Rahul faced his third pitch of the game, Nathan Lyon’s delivery was just a hair short, the kind of slight length inaccuracy that India’s hitters have been able to brush away throughout the series. Rahul used the middle of his bat to flick and flick in a delicate manner.
He was dragging himself back to the dressing room after a terrible moment. The short-leg fielder Peter Handscomb was struck flush on the shinpad by the ball, which then bounced into the gloves of the wicketkeeper.
Rahul’s ability to open a Test match was still a point of contention for the team management, India skipper Rohit Sharma stated in his post-game news conference. He made mention of the hundreds Rahul had scored at Centurion and Lord’s in 2021 prior to his lean stretch.
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion regarding his batting, but Rohit explained that the team management always considers each player’s potential, not just KL’s. “I’ve been questioned in the past about many players, and if a player has potential, he will get that long run. Anyone is affected, not only KL.
Certainly, there has been a lot of chatter lately, but it is crystal apparent from our perspective that we want him to go out and do what he does best, as we have seen over the years: play his game.
In his last nine Test innings, KL Rahul has only managed to score 23 points.
This may be the management of the team’s perspective. However, the BCCI sent a press release later in the evening revealing the lineup for the third and fourth Tests of the series. Other from that one minor modification, the team remained the same. Vice-captain was non-existent.
In the first two Tests, Rahul served as vice-captain. Before this series, he led India in their final two Test matches in Bangladesh, where Rohit was out with an injury.
The promotion on Sunday seemed to be another roll of the dice in Rahul’s Test career’s snakes-and-ladders narrative. He had transitioned in less than a year from being a two-year absentee to middle-order aspirant to backup opener to the first-choice opener to vice-captain to temporary captain.
Now that the ladders appear to have vanished, snakes appear to be waiting around every corner.
Rahul’s position in the team is under strong media examination, especially social media scrutiny. An unusual event in Indian cricket, one of his harshest opponents is a former India player from his home state.
Due to his extensive experience with the same journey, Rohit’s statements on Sunday may have been laced with genuine empathy. He entered in 2007 as a player with limitless potential, but it took him 64 ODIs to finally raise his average above 30. He didn’t play in a Test match until 2013, scoring hundreds in his first two games. But, after a streak of poor performances and rash dismissals over the subsequent away trips, he found it difficult to secure a regular berth in the middle order. He didn’t truly become an all-format player until 2019, when he rose to the top of the Tests order.
Rohit endured relentless criticism the entire time since he was unfairly favoured and given a much longer rope than other players with comparable records at comparable phases of their careers.
That might sound unfair, but some athletes simply have the physical attributes needed to succeed – they bounce and run with ease, have shots that are accurate all over the pitch, and have techniques that are free of visible defects – while others need some time to develop their run-scoring rhythm. Selectors are aware of this and do not jump to conclusions based on a streak of poor results. Even in the best of circumstances, batting is an unpredictable sport where luck plays a significant role in success and failure and where the relationship between good strategy and performance can occasionally appear shaky.
Yet, over a sufficiently big sample size, that connection typically becomes more apparent, and good players eventually produce good records. Rahul has played 47 Tests in his career, averaging 33.44. Since the beginning of the year, he has averaged 25.82, and in 48 innings, he has only produced six 50-plus runs.
Yet, there are compensating factors. Rahul’s career has coincided with India’s hitters routinely playing in difficult conditions in Test cricket, both at home and abroad. In tests including Rahul, the top-three batter has averaged 32.98.
So, there is a justification for India’s high level of confidence in Rahul.
They might still abandon him in Indore, but not because they no longer believe in him. Shubman Gill has been batting and looking like he’s bound for greatness, so that’s why. India is aware that it might take him some time to score as frequently and heavily in Test cricket as he has been doing on the flatter pitches of white-ball cricket. But they will give him the time he requires, just like they did with Rohit and Rahul.
BCCI has announced Indian Team for the 3rd and 4th Test and also for ODI, where KL Rahul has got the place in both of them.
India’s Test squad for the 3rd and 4th Test against Australia
Rohit Sharma (Captain), K L Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
|
Australia’s tour of India, 2022-23 – Test series |
|||
|
Sr. No. |
Date |
Match |
Venue |
|
1 |
1st – 5th March |
3rd Test |
Indore |
|
2 |
9th – 13th March |
4th Test |
Ahmedabad |
India’s ODI squad against Australia
Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, K L Rahul, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya (Vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Jaydev Unadkat.
Note: Mr Rohit Sharma will be unavailable for the first ODI due to family commitments and Mr Hardik Pandya will lead the side in the first ODI.
|
Australia’s tour of India, 2022-23 – ODI series |
|||
|
Sr. No. |
Date |
Match |
Venue |
|
1 |
17-Mar |
1st ODI |
Mumbai |
|
2 |
19-Mar |
2nd ODI |
Vizag |
|
3 |
22-Mar |
3rd ODI |
Chennai |