NEW DELHI: Whenever an Indian captain has found himself in trouble, they’ve often turned to their ‘Rahuls’. Be it Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, or the recently-retired Rohit Sharma, their ‘Rahuls’ have delivered when it mattered most. Rahul Dravid, India’s legendary Test batter, frustrated world-class pace attacks as he stood guard like his life depended on it. KL Rahul has played a comparable role for his captains — MS Dhoni, then Kohli, and most recently, Rohit.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The captain asked KL Rahul to open? He said yes.The captain asked him to move to No. 3 or No. 4? He accepted it.The captain chose to drop him down the order? No complaints.The team needed him to bat and keep wickets? KL Rahul said yes again.
It wouldn’t be wrong to say that challenges seem to follow KL Rahul wherever he goes. He has faced many, but one of the most puzzling episodes unfolded in Australia during the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy.Rohit, then India’s Test captain, missed the opening Test due to the birth of his second child. The team management asked KL Rahul to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. India went on to win the match convincingly by 295 runs. KL Rahul contributed 26 and 77 in the two innings, while stitching a 200-run match-defining stand with Jaiswal.When Rohit returned for the second Test, the team chose not to disturb the successful opening combination. KL Rahul continued to open with Jaiswal, while Rohit slotted himself at No. 6. India, however, lost that match by 10 wickets, with KL Rahul scoring 37 and 7.In the third Test, KL Rahul again opened and produced a gritty 84 — the highest score by an Indian batter in the match — which ended in a draw.But the real drama began during the fourth Test. Rohit, struggling for runs, brought himself back at the top of the order and pushed KL Rahul down to No. 3. The decision backfired. Rohit scored just 3 and 9, while KL Rahul — clearly unsettled by the shift — managed 24 and a duck.The question on everyone’s lips was the same — why change KL Rahul’s position when he was performing as an opener?With Rohit opting out of the fifth and final Test, KL Rahul opened once again. India lost the match by six wickets and the series 1-3.Samuel Jayaraj, KL Rahul’s childhood coach, said the cricketer has been handling challenges from a very young age.“When he was just 11 years old, and for the next 12 years, he played in the Under-13s for Mangalore. Let me tell you — Mangalore Zone never had strong batsmen [batters]. It was always known for its bowling attack. But KL scored two double hundreds. He used to bat from both ends. I still remember — by the fourth or fifth ball, he would take a single, go to the non-striker’s end, and then be back on strike to face the next over. He handled pressure brilliantly, even at that age,” Jayaraj told TimesofIndia.com.“So, if you ask me, as a coach, this isn’t surprising. He was always ready. He was also a wicketkeeper. He would smartly rotate strike, taking singles on the fourth, fifth, or sixth ball, then face the next over. He follows instructions really well. If you noticed in the Champions Trophy, his role was very specific—and he executed it perfectly,” he said.“In fact, despite having a very good ODI World Cup, he wasn’t picked for the T20 World Cup. He didn’t crib or get frustrated. Because he has seen these things as a kid. That’s why he’s so strong today both mentally and technically. And that’s his biggest strength. He’s matured a lot. He’s been playing cricket at a high level for 10 years now. That experience shows. If you watch him now, he’s a completely different player — much calmer, composed, and in control. For me, that calmness is what stands out the most,” he said.
BIG TEST AWAITS KL RAHUL IN ENGLANDKL Rahul, who debuted in 2014, has played 58 Tests, scoring 3257 runs at an average of 33.57. Among the Indian squad touring England, the right-hander is one of the few to hold experience of playing in England. He has played 9 Tests in England, scoring 614 runs at an average of 34.11, including two centuries and one half-century. His highest score in England is 149.Having previously faced the likes of Stuart Broad, James Anderson, and Chris Woakes, KL Rahul will walk into this series as the seasoned batter. Armed with his past experience, he is expected to play a key role — not just with the bat, but also as a guiding presence for the youngsters.Before departing for the UK, KL Rahul met his childhood coach Jayaraj for a short, but meaningful, discussion.“I always tell him just one thing — enjoy and become. That’s always been my message, my mantra, even my password, you could say. You have to enjoy what you do. You have to be happy. If you’re not happy, your body simply won’t respond the way you want it to,” Jayaraj said.“For me, form is temporary — but the skill and technique you develop stay with you forever. Honestly, when he was playing state and zonal matches in Mangalore and Bangalore, we coaches always had the red ball in mind. We didn’t really think much about white-ball cricket back then. So the foundation he built — the technique and skill — was rooted in red-ball cricket,” the coach added.“In England, a more and more matured KL Rahul will be seen,” a confident Jayaraj remarked.
OPPORTUNITY FOR KL RAHUL TO MAKE THE TEST SPOT HIS OWNDuring the IPL, KL Rahul recreated an iconic scene from the movie Kantara after a match-winning knock — drawing a circle on the ground with his bat, thumping his chest, and pointing downwards, as if to say: “This is my home. This place belongs to me.”Now, with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma having bid farewell to Test cricket, KL Rahul enters the England series as the most experienced Indian batter on English soil. He’s no longer just a dependable option — he’s a senior figure, a guiding light for the youthful Indian side led by Shubman Gill.From marshaling the slip cordon to offering tactical advice, KL Rahul is expected to play a vital leadership role alongside Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant — helping set the tone, guiding the bowlers, and executing team strategies with composure.After years of being shuffled across formats and batting positions, it’s finally time for KL Rahul to claim a Test spot as his own — and there may be no better place to do it than in England.
