KL Rahul was named the vice-captain of the Indian Test team after Rohit Sharma was injured and ruled out. Rahul scored his first Test hundred against South Africa in the final session on Day 1 of the first Test which was played at the Centurion on Sunday. The wait of 14 years was brought to an end, after he scored a century to become only the second Indian opener to reach a triple-digit figure in Tests in the rainbow nation.
He reached the milestone in 218 balls with 14 fours and a six to his name. Batting for 260 minutes, the Indian batter was in a flamboyant touch. He now has overseas Test hundreds in Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies.
The Journey
Kannur Lokesh Rahul or KL Rahul is one of the most highly-rated India’s next-generation opening batters. Starting his carrier in international cricket as a part of the 2010 ICC U-19 World Cup, the wicket-keeper batter made his First-Class debut a year later. His breakthrough happened in the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy season, where he scored 1033 runs, which included three centuries and a Player-of-the-match performance in the Final, where he laid the foundation for Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy victory.
The caliber and the technique that he possessed in the longest format gave him his international Test debut during the Australia tour of 2014, where he also scored his maiden Test century in the second Test match. So far, Rahul has played 42 Test matches, scoring 2517 runs with a batting average of 36.47. He also has seven centuries to his name, out of which six came while playing away and only a century in home conditions. He is also just the third opener to hit away Test centuries in Australia, England, and South Africa after Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar and West Indies’ Chris Gayle.
Let us have a look at some of the achievements of the flamboyant Indian opener, and his significant achievements over time in all formats of the game, both domestically and internationally:
- The first triple-centurion in First-Class cricket for Karnataka (season 2014-15).
- The first Indian batter to score a century on their ODI debut (against Zimbabwe in 2016).
- The unique record for being the only batsman to hit a century in his first innings as an opener in both Tests and ODIs.
- Only the third player from India to score a century in all three formats of international cricket.
- First player in T20I history to score a century while batting at number 4 or lower.
- One of the highest run-getters in IPL.
Conclusion
KL after scoring the century against the Proteas in the ongoing Test series could not do much in the second innings of the first Test, scoring only 23 runs after playing 74 balls with a strike rate of 31.08. However, the batter scored a half-century in the first innings of the second Test. Out of the 42 Test matches he has played for India, 30 have been in away conditions.
There was a drought of centuries from the period of 2017-20, but Rahul came back by scoring two centuries in the year 2021. The rise in his performances has come on the back of hard work on balance in the stance. With his neutral strong position and his balance, he can access areas on the ground leaving a short margin of error for bowlers while preying on bowlers’ patience.