KL Rahul no longer just a Test specialist

KL Rahul has been a man under the spotlight ever since he made his international debut. He shares many attributes with his childhood batting hero – Rahul Dravid. His calm poise and technical prowess make him one of the highly rated batsmen. But, Rahul never broke the headlines as a batting prodigy. His time with the U19 team was ordinary. It also took him a while to establish himself in the domestic circuit before he helped Karnataka reach dizzying height of success in the 2013-14 season with his tally of 1033 runs and a Man of the Match winning performance in the final.

But, the tall stroke maker, who was still an unknown commodity, gave a glimpse of his growing abilities after he toured Australia to play his debut Test series. After a horrible start to his Test career at Melbourne where he would score only 3 & 1. However, he went on to knock a fluent 110 at Sydney next game to grab everyone’s attention.

Later another successful tour to Sri Lanka followed and he was seen as the next batting star in the Test format. Despite all that he was, however, never looked as a player who possessed the Twenty20 caliber, largely perhaps due to his style of play. This can be understood by the fact that he never got any opportunity in the limited overs format for India despite making his Test debut in 2014.

His time in the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad was also not great in the past two seasons. He played most of the games for the side, showed responsibility in the middle order but couldn’t muster considerable amount of runs. In fact, in 39 T20 games overall before the start of this IPL, Rahul just had 653 runs.

Also read – India’s selection conundrum for the Zimbabwe tour

The local boy was then acquired by Royal Challengers Bangalore this season. However, his reputation of a Test specialist again forced him to warm the bench for the first two matches after RCB preferred wicket-keeper batsman Kedar Jadhav over him.

But, things changed for him after a good news from Jamaica reached the RCB camp. Chris Gayle had to fly back to his country as his partner was expecting the couple’s first baby. This left a vacuum at the top and there were changes all around. Rahul was brought in as wicketkeeper-batsman while Jadhav played as a pinch-hitter in the lower middle order.

And since then, he has been outstanding with the bat. A different batsman altogether. He has managed to forge a lethal combination with his senior pro and batting ace Virat Kohli at the top. The influence of batting with Kohli has been clearly visible on Rahul who has played out of his skin. He got off slowly with 23 against Mumbai Indians and 7 against Rising Pune Supergiants but has since recorded 51*, 51, 52, 38, 42, 68* and 38 the last one coming against the Delhi Daredevils in a must-win game at Raipur. The ‘Test specialist’ has struck runs at a strike rate of 147.89 and averages 55.14. Rahul has delivered above expectations, in a format which was deemed unsuitable for him.

Also read – Well, just another Virat Kohli article

The tall long-haired wicket keeper who was considered a backup keeper has also performed the duties of a full-time wicket-keeper behind the stumps. The rookie-ness in his wicket-keeping has been quite visible considering some of the chances he has fluffed in recent matches. It’s natural to receive criticism. Kohli semi-jokingly said the other day that the only alternative, if the team balance has to be maintained was to make de Villiers keep wickets.

But, his wicket-keeping is something which will get better with time, since the last time he wore those big gloves was in age-group cricket. What’s important is that Lokesh Rahul has shown his ability to adapt to vastly different formats and can no longer be termed good enough for just one format.

With the Indian team set to fly for a limited overs tour to Zimbabwe, he might well be up for a call from the Men in Blue.