By the time Australia introduced Adam Zampa into the bowling attack on Sunday, KL Rahul had already struck two sumptuous boundaries -- a classical cover drive off Josh Hazlewood to get off the mark and a punch through point against Pat Cummins. But if you want a quick recap of why Rahul was the most impressive of all the batters at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, it is Zampa’s opening over that you must go through.
When the leg-spinner
By the time Australia introduced Adam Zampa into the bowling attack on Sunday, KL Rahul had already struck two sumptuous boundaries -- a classical cover drive off Josh Hazlewood to get off the mark and a punch through point against Pat Cummins. But if you want a quick recap of why Rahul was the most impressive of all the batters at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, it is Zampa’s opening over that you must go through.
When the leg-spinner landed his stock ball on a good length just outside off-stump, Rahul hung back and cut it past slip for four. Two balls later, Zampa delivered a googly, a tad fuller and a bit wider, and Rahul again rocked back and opened his bat face so late he almost took the ball off the keeper’s gloves. Two boundaries off the back foot when Zampa hadn't really erred on the shorter side.
What does Zampa do next? He does what most bowlers tend to do. He overcompensates by trying to bowl even fuller and dishes out a tempting full toss. Rahul takes a stride forward and times it sweetly to the right of deep point for four. The over costs 13 runs and, barring that final delivery, Zampa is left wondering whether he actually did much wrong on a track where the Indian spinners enjoyed plenty of assistance.
Zampa hadn’t, but Rahul was so precise with his footwork – rocking back and moving forward like a fleet-footed boxer – that he was able to maximise his scoring options right through. The result was an unbeaten 97 in India’s opening game of the World Cup to set up a six-wicket victory. It’s not often that someone puts Virat Kohli in the shade, but Rahul can arguably lay claim to have done that.
In the process, Rahul has also done his bit to vindicate the Indian team management’s perseverance with him. Remember, he hadn't played a competitive game for four months before making his comeback a month ago. Despite his successful rehab after thigh surgery in May, his inclusion in the Asia Cup squad came with the caveat that he will miss the first two games due to a groin niggle. The decision-makers didn’t get frustrated with Rahul’s run-in with injuries and are now reaping the rewards.
The pay-off was actually instant. In Rahul’s comeback game, against a formidable Pakistan attack in Colombo, he played an innings of the highest calibre, plundering the ball to all parts of the Premadasa Stadium for an unbeaten 111. Alongside him on that occasion too was Kohli, stitching together an unbroken 233-run stand to deflate Pakistan’s morale. In that game, Rahul also took the gloves once he was on the field despite Ishan Kishan’s presence, a clear indication if any that he was always their first-choice wicketkeeper for the World Cup.
“Definitely, it vindicates our decision to wait for him. We always knew what he brings to the team,” India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey told reporters in the mixed zone on Sunday. “The quality of batter that he is, especially in the middle order. We needed someone who plays spin and pace equally well. It gives us stability and confidence. And the way he has played in the past, we definitely trusted him. It is good to have him back.”
If this is indeed Rahul 2.0, it is a big positive for India at the onset of a World Cup campaign where the pressure is firmly on them. For if there has been one piercing criticism of Rahul’s international career, it has been his perceived inability to rise to the big occasion against a top team. In the 2019 World Cup, for instance, he scored 361 runs in nine games at an average of 45.12 and strike rate of 77.46. But delve deeper and you find that Rahul’s highest scores – 111 and 77 – came against Sri Lanka’s and Bangladesh's pedestrian attacks. In the last two T20 World Cups too, his performances in key games haven’t quite been eye-catching.
This isn’t a reflection on his talent though. His stroke-making ability and range may be second to none, and he is capable of clobbering the ball into the stands as much as caressing it to the boundary. Much like Rohit Sharma in his early years, it is perhaps why frustration with Rahul not doing more with his ability creeps into the casual fan. His numbers in this format are quite impressive. In 62 games, he tallies 2,388 runs at an average of 49.75 and a strike rate of 87.5. As wicketkeeper, he’s been even better, logging an average of 61.18 while striking at 93.68 in 23 matches.
What may have occasionally let him down is that knack of getting stuck in and producing crucial runs. If his knock against Australia on Sunday is anything to go by, Rahul may have just unlocked that quality too.
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