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| KL Rahul's turnaround in IPL 2018. Image src: IndExpress |
KL Rahul's career has had many ups and downs, and he is barely 26 year old. Here is his journey, broken down into the waves of his careers. And Australia has had a huge role in his journey so far. Here is how:
The big miss and the turnaround(2010-2013)
Australian summer of 2010.
6 matches. 143 runs. An average of 28. Strike Rate of 69.
KL Rahul's batting at the 2010 U-19 World Cup didn't grab eyeballs. His U-19 WC mates didn't make it big too. 8 years later, only Mandeep Singh, Ashok Menaria, Mayank Agarwal and Sandeep Sharma are well-known. His talent was well known in the age-level cricket circles in Karnataka. But the World Cup failed to be his limelight moment. India failed at the WC too. Josh Hazlewood had emerged from the young Australian team of 2010 that won the cup. The fast energetic bowler, the partner-in-crime of Starc.
As Hazlewood made strides in Sheffield, Rahul did too.
A prolific 2013-14 domestic season turned the tide, for good. He scored 1033 runs for Karnataka, and played some terrific strokes in the defining Ranji season. 2013 gave him his first IPL cap for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. It was also the year in which the big innings of 185 at Duleep Trophy came. All this had finally started to take shape for KL. And then came the big national call. For the test team touring Australia.
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Best thing to happen to Indian cricket since Kohli (2014-2016)
It began in Australia again.
Four years later, the same country awaited his next big test. His debut test was marked by a couple of careless shots that ended his stay immediately both the times. A impatient sweep off Lyon ballooned up in the air, and Hazlewood catched it. The two men from U-19 WC 2010 had crossed paths again. Rahul top-edged Johnson in the second innings too. A spate of careless shots meant his record after debut test read: 2 innings 4 runs.
Sent in to open in the next test, Rahul made a statement. Something had changed from Melboune to Sydney. He scored 110, in an innings that was highlighted by many graceful shots, full of youthful exuberance. Aptly, he made a big partnership with Kohli, who scored 147 himself. In a way, it was symbolic of his being the best thing to happen to Indian cricket since Kohli.
Shortly after, he became the first Karnataka batsman to score a triple century in first-class cricket. The third rendezvous with Australia at the 2015 didn't happen, as Rahul hadn't bursted on the ODI circuit yet. The opportunity came in 2016 when India toured Zimbabwe. Rahul joined a list of elite players to score debut in their first ODI, and was the first Indian to make the list. Later in the year, he became the second Indian batsman to score centuries in all formats after Suresh Raina. The 46-ball hundred against West Indies in 2016 is till date the fastest T20i hundred by an Indian.
Till then, he had a knack. Either he made a 100, or fell cheaply. The 50s to 100s conversion ratio was very high.
The performance box had a big check.The consistency box wasn't yet checked.
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2017-A start and stop year
A shoulder injury against England changed things for KL Rahul. He was forced to miss the IPL and the Champions Trophy thereafter. The second-half of 2017 was a welcome return as Rahul hit 6 consecutive half centuries in tests marked another side of KLR- the consistency.It also meant he had started to forget the art of conversion of 50s to 100s, something he had done perfectly right till 2016.
The ODI fortunes turned the other way, as his poor ODI form culminated in him being dropped for the Australia series. This time again, it was Australia. As his stocks in test cricket went up, his ODI stocks came crashing down. For many reasons, 2017 became a start-stop year for the Karnataka cricketer.
As of now, his ODI Ranking is 153, and his average a modest 35 with one century so far.
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2018- IPL and the turnaround
The poor ODI form meant RCB didn't retain the talented batsman and Punjab grabbed him. The turnaround began. As of 18th May, KL Rahul held the orange cap in IPL 2018 with 652 runs to his name. In a tournament meant for the fireworks, he found the consistency enriched with gracious stroke play and panache. As Punjab stand on the verge of qualification/disqualification with the last few league games in way, KL Rahul has almost single-handedly carried Punjab's batting on his shoulders.A jaw-dropping 95 against RR wasn't enough to take his home through to a win that night. Aptly, his orange-cap performance might not be enough to take Punjab to the title. One-man armies often fall by the wayside, telling us again how cricket is a team game.
With India slated to tour England, Australia and a lot more this year, Rahul would hope to became the all-season player he emerged as. Probably, an Australian tour will change things again. And perhaps, Hazlewood will cross paths again.
