K L Rahul: The comeback man of Indian Test cricket

Centurion: We will never know if the ‘universe’ loves coincidence more than we as a pattern-loving race do, but there’s something about alignment which titillates.

Take this for an example: On the very same day KL Rahul scored a Test-career-saving century against South Africa in Centurion two years ago, the Karnataka batter returns to the same venue for India’s opening Test against the same opposition. 

The only difference is that he was an opener then, and now he will be batting in the middle-order and handling wicket-keeping duties. 

More pertinently, Rahul is once again fighting to stay relevant in the longest format. This, however, is not new to the 31-year-old, but surely this trend is getting irksome. 

Before he ended up scoring that 123 on the opening day of the opening Test on December 26, 2021, Rahul was not even supposed to be with the side. 

By 2019, Rahul was out of date, or so it seemed. 

Then a freak coincidence which involved injuries to Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal meant Rahul was suddenly padded up to play England in Nottingham. 

Besides the purposeful 84 and 24 at Trent Bridge, Rahul scored a stoic 129 in Lord’s to rest his case. 

Another mini-slide followed, but he arrested it with that 123 against South Africa. 

Rahul was back! Or, so it seemed. 

Since then, however, Rahul has only scored one half-century in 12 innings, meaning his chips were losing value quickly. This is despite 2642 runs at an average of 33.44 from 47 Tests. 

Frankly, had it not been for Pant’s absence and the lack of quality wicket-keeper batters on the Indian red-ball circuit, Rahul would most likely have not made the team. 

But, that’s the thing with someone like Rahul. He complements every facet of the game to a competitive degree, meaning when there is a shortage in any department, he is usually the one brought in to plug the void.

Take the World Cup for instance, only weeks after recovering from the thigh surgery, Rahul was named the designated ’keeper. He wasn’t particularly good in the lead-up to the big event, but once the spotlight was on, Rahul was ’keeping about as well as anyone else did all tournament long. 

That, obviously, played a part in the management reckoning that he could do the job in red-ball cricket too. That, besides the fact that Rahul himself approached the management and asked to play the role. 

“He was very good for us during the World Cup, it was a pleasing sight,” said Rohit Sharma, during the pre-game press conference. “He has come a long way and we know that he will deliver. That’s the thing with him, he takes on a role and he always delivers. But we’ll see how long he wants to do this role (laughs), it’s not easy ’keeping for so long.”

While Rohit will know better than to underestimate Rahul, his sentiment, although in jest, is a valid one. Rahul has never kept stumps in a full-time capacity before this.

One thing is for sure, though, Rahul knows how to stay relevant to the management. 

So, the next time you think this is the end of the road for him, you may want to think again because Rahul always finds a way to come back, and it doesn’t matter if you call it coincidence or class.