KL Rahul's childhood coach recalls the emergence of India's new opening sensation

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KL Rahul
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KL Rahul. (Photo Source: BCCI)

India has had a rich history of producing classy batsmen over the years. The latest to join the elite list the man from Karnataka, Kannur Lokesh Rahul, commonly known as KL Rahul. Not too many batsmen carry the same grace of batting in all the formats which is proven by the fact that he has scored hundreds across all formats in a very short career already.

Recently, he has been in a tremendous form in the ongoing Test series against Australia where he has three fifties to his name in 4 innings and has looked a class apart from other batsmen. He has made a strong case for himself to be picked as an opener in all the three formats.

At the age of 10, Rahul had gone to his coach Samuel Jayaraj who talked about Rahul’s evolution as a cricketer in an interview with Mumbai Mirror. He recalled Rahul’s love affair with batting from a very early age.

“His dad, KN Lokesh is a big influence. I think that after playing at our academy till 6.30 pm, his dad would give him throw-downs. I can say that from my visit to his house, there were red ball marks on the walls. His father would drop and pick him up in their Maruti 800. He was very organized. Of course, he was naughty, as all 13-14-year-old kids should be.”

“He came for the summer camp at Mangalore Sports Club. He asked me, when does the practice start? I told him I am here at around 3.30 pm. But next day I could see that he was there at 2.30 pm. The small boy was waiting for me. His father is Dean, Civil Engineering department, at NIT in Surathkal, some 18 km’s from the academy. In 2002, the KSCA was started and we requested the TRDOs, Rajesh Kamath and Sanath Kumar, to put this boy in the academy. They refused saying he is too small. But Rahul kept working on his batting and in 2002-03 he got two double tons in the zonal for Mangalore”, he added.

Once on the tour to Australia, he was batting in the nets and the then team director of India, Ravi Shastri noticed him for the first time and was pleasantly surprised by his batting skills.

“When I saw him for the first time, I walked up to Virat Kohli and told him where has this guy been? He looked like a complete player. He looked different. I knew in my mind that this guy was going to be someone very good. And that is why despite low scores in his first two innings, we sent him to open in the next Test. And he didn’t let us down. He hasn’t looked back since. He looked organized. He adapted to those bouncy wickets. He looked a class apart. It could have been nerves in the first Test, but the emphasis was to back him and give him all the confidence”, Shastri told Mumbai Mirror.

Even though Shastri was taken aback by Rahul’s ability to handle the bounce but Jayaraj knew all along the capability of Rahul to tackle the rising deliveries.

“Mangalore doesn’t have turf wickets and Rahul was groomed on matting wicket. This is where he worked on his basics and today when commentators speak about it, I feel very proud. At the academy, all the fast bowlers wanted to bowl to him”, Jayaraj said.

Shastri reckoned that he can improve even more with better shot selection. “He already is an all-pitch, condition and situation player. We have to be patient with him. We have to give him time and he will deliver. His batting in the Bangalore Test was the most fluent of the game. His great strength is the tempo he maintains. He is a busy player who puts the bad ball away. He has a wide range of shots. If he is able to become more selective with his shot selection, he can be more consistent. He has to read the game, what the team demands and I see him being a lot better in times to come.”

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