A lot can happen in a week. K.L. Rahul entered the ODI series against Australia unsure of his spot in the batting order, and by the end of it, he has emerged as India’s preferred wicketkeeper-batsman.
It all started by accident. In the first ODI at Mumbai, first-choice wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant left the field after being hit on the helmet by Australian pacer Pat Cummins, forcing Rahul to don the gloves. Despite his limited experience behind the stumps, Rahul was up to the task.
Upping the ante
Rahul upped the ante in the second ODI, showing great reflexes and presence of mind to effect a smart stumping to remove skipper Aaron Finch. He shone with the bat as well, smashing a 52-ball 82 in an unfamiliar three-drop spot, to go with his 47 at one-drop in the previous match.
In the third ODI at Bengaluru on Sunday, Rahul kept wickets while a fit-again Pant was relegated to the bench. Rahul and Pant even joked and chatted when Pant entered the field to offer drinks. He had the backing of his home crowd as well, who countered muted chants of ‘Dhoni, Dhoni’ with loud screams of ‘Rahul, Rahul’.
The transition was complete — a fact confirmed by skipper Virat Kohli’s comments in the post-match press conference. Kohli explained that having Rahul as ’keeper brings balance to the team.
Comparisons
The skipper even went so far as to draw comparisons to the time when Rahul Dravid kept wickets — an unorthodox move that worked very well for that side.
“It allows us to play an extra batsman, which strengthens our batting massively. That is a very important factor as far as the team balance is concerned. If you look at the 2003 World Cup where Rahul bhai started keeping, the balance became different because you could play an extra batter, and guys at the top could really play positive cricket.
“Also, Rahul is very open to batting anywhere because he is a proper batsman who can perform in any format. He won’t go slam bang from ball one, but he can do what he did in Rajkot just playing good cricketing shots,” Kohli said.
Kohli added that the team will persist with Rahul as the wicketkeeper-batsman.
“Rahul has done well, so we will have to persist with that for a little bit and see where it takes us. A lack of clarity in terms of positions has really hurt us in the past.
Maintain continuity
“So now that we understand that this feels right, we will go ahead with it for a while. We played an unchanged team and got back-to-back wins (second and third ODIs against Australia). I don’t see any reason why we should change this balance,” Kohli said.
For Rahul, who only a few months ago was dropped from the squad after a string of poor scores, this could be the start of a new chapter in his international career.
He must make the most of this unexpected turn of events.
