“Aado, maga, aado! (keep batting, son, keep batting),” screamed a spectator after K.L. Rahul missed a few balls while on 270. The 150-odd fans gathered at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium knew that they were on the verge of witnessing a special cricket moment.
And batting on, the 22-year-old calmly moved to 283 — the previous highest score by a Karnataka batsman in the Ranji Trophy — and a single between cover and mid-off brought him the rare honour.
Rahul ambled across for the run, going past Barrington Rowland’s record set against Madhya Pradesh in 2004.
Incidentally, Rowland’s knock was also registered at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium.
As a tired Rahul hugged his partner, Abrar Kazi, the opposition player from Uttar Pradesh, sensed this was hardly the end.
Cheered
Rahul dug in once more, as the triple century approached. Every single was cheered, and a tap to long-on gave Rahul another reason to raise his bat in celebration.
The Mangaluru-born opener had achieved what many stalwarts before him had failed to do. It was style and grace all the way through.
He was eventually dismissed for 337. “It is a great feeling to enter the history books, especially given the history of Karnataka cricket and the batsmen we have produced. To be the only guy from the State to get a 300 feels very, very good,” a relaxed Rahul said.
