<p align="justify">There was a stage in KL Rahul's bright but injury-ridden career when he would get either a century or almost nothing. He had three centuries in his first 11 innings but not a single 20-plus score. Since his first fifty in West Indies in July 2016, Rahul has played 20 more innings but has just one century to show (199 against England in 2016).</p>.<p align="justify">For someone whose conversion rate was so impressive at the start of his career, his failure to convert any of his last nine half-centuries into a three-figure score has been surprising. While seven of those fifties have come in a row, a testimony to his remarkable consistency in the longer format, he would definitely be annoyed with himself if not worried at not making it big in any of those instances.</p>.<p align="justify">After letting go of another opportunity (he fell for 79) to get to what would have been his fifth career ton here on Monday on the final day of the first Test against Sri Lanka, he admitted the numbers would have looked a lot different had he converted at least few of those starts.</p>.<p align="justify">"I'm not worried, but yeah, obviously it's a little bit disappointing," Rahul said in his post-match comments. "I would have wanted to convert at least half of them into hundreds, and sitting and looking back at those innings, I feel like three or four innings I could have easily converted (into) hundreds, and my numbers would have been a lot different when the stats come up when I go to bat, it would have showed eight or nine international hundreds," he thought.</p>.<p align="justify">The stylish right-hander felt as an opener the team looks at him to not only give the desired start but get a big knock to lay a good foundation. While he has been getting starts consistently, he has unable to carry on for reasons he can't put a finger on. </p>.<p align="justify">"I've never played for numbers, firstly, but the conversion is something that is disappointing because the team looks forward to me as an opening batsman going and getting bigger runs," he offered. "With how I bat, and if I can stay there longer we can get the runs much faster, and that gives the bowlers a lot more time and a lot more cushion of runs in a Test match. So that is disappointing, but I'm not really worried. I'm sure it (the hundred) will come when it has to," the Karnataka batsman remarked.</p>
<p align="justify">There was a stage in KL Rahul's bright but injury-ridden career when he would get either a century or almost nothing. He had three centuries in his first 11 innings but not a single 20-plus score. Since his first fifty in West Indies in July 2016, Rahul has played 20 more innings but has just one century to show (199 against England in 2016).</p>.<p align="justify">For someone whose conversion rate was so impressive at the start of his career, his failure to convert any of his last nine half-centuries into a three-figure score has been surprising. While seven of those fifties have come in a row, a testimony to his remarkable consistency in the longer format, he would definitely be annoyed with himself if not worried at not making it big in any of those instances.</p>.<p align="justify">After letting go of another opportunity (he fell for 79) to get to what would have been his fifth career ton here on Monday on the final day of the first Test against Sri Lanka, he admitted the numbers would have looked a lot different had he converted at least few of those starts.</p>.<p align="justify">"I'm not worried, but yeah, obviously it's a little bit disappointing," Rahul said in his post-match comments. "I would have wanted to convert at least half of them into hundreds, and sitting and looking back at those innings, I feel like three or four innings I could have easily converted (into) hundreds, and my numbers would have been a lot different when the stats come up when I go to bat, it would have showed eight or nine international hundreds," he thought.</p>.<p align="justify">The stylish right-hander felt as an opener the team looks at him to not only give the desired start but get a big knock to lay a good foundation. While he has been getting starts consistently, he has unable to carry on for reasons he can't put a finger on. </p>.<p align="justify">"I've never played for numbers, firstly, but the conversion is something that is disappointing because the team looks forward to me as an opening batsman going and getting bigger runs," he offered. "With how I bat, and if I can stay there longer we can get the runs much faster, and that gives the bowlers a lot more time and a lot more cushion of runs in a Test match. So that is disappointing, but I'm not really worried. I'm sure it (the hundred) will come when it has to," the Karnataka batsman remarked.</p>
