Over the years, Samuel Jayaraj has trained innumerable enthusiastic children at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) academy in Mangaluru. But very few of his wards showed a single-minded dedication to the sport the way K.L. Rahul did.
In 2002, a 10-year-old Rahul turned up for the Mangalore Zone under-13 selection trials. He did not get picked, but that hardly dampened Rahul’s spirit. “After he saw that his name was not on the team list, Rahul asked me if he could join our practice sessions. I agreed, and Rahul came half an hour early to practice the next day. Even at that young age, Rahul knew the importance of hard work,” says Jayaraj.
Jayaraj and fellow coach Devdas Nayak got down to work too, testing Rahul against older fast bowlers.
Their efforts paid off, as a couple of years later, Rahul not only made it to Mangalore Zone under-13 side, but also scored two double centuries in the KSCA inter-zonal tournament.
“One of his double hundreds came at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Rahul Dravid happened to be there, and he called Rahul aside to have a long chat with him. For a 12-year-old to be spotted by Dravid — that was a huge boost to Rahul’s confidence,” Jayaraj says.
After completing his high school (NITK English Medium School, Surathkal) and pre-university (St. Aloysius, Mangaluru), it was time for Rahul to shift base to Bengaluru. “But before his move to Bengaluru, we were keen to see Rahul feature in the 2010 ICC Under-19 World Cup as a Mangaluru boy. Here was a St. Aloysius lad wearing the India jersey — it made everyone in our city proud,” Jayaraj says. And soon began the Bengaluru chapter of Rahul’s life. He enrolled at Jain University, an institute renowned for its ardent support of sportspersons. Talented batsman Kaunain Abbas was a year senior to Rahul on the college team, and the two would later go on to play together for Karnataka in the domestic circles.
“When Rahul first played for the college team, he was a classical batsman. In a span of two months, after playing for the senior Karnataka side, he became a big hitter. Rahul told me that he had worked on his core, which helped him get into a stable hitting position. This took his game to the next level,” Abbas says.
Rahul went on to make his first-class debut in 2010. Karnataka wicket-keeper batsman C.M. Gautam remembers Rahul’s early days with the big boys.
“When he first came to the team, he would bat for hours and hours in the nets. We used to laugh and say – ‘Look at this crazy guy!’. He simply loved to bat,” Gautam says.
Despite not yet securing a permanent spot in the State team, Rahul was not short on confidence. Gautam illustrates this point by sharing an anecdote from a 2012 Ranji Trophy match, against Vidarbha in Mysuru.
“We had a 272-run partnership, and that was the first time we batted together. Rahul talked to me a lot between overs — what the bowlers were trying to do, how the pitch was playing and so on. I was astonished — this young guy was telling me what to do. But whatever he said was right,” Gautam, who scored 257 in that innings, says.
The next season was a phenomenal one for Rahul, who hit 1033 runs to finish the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy campaign as the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament. The dream run nearly did not happen, Gautam explains.
Rahul had a mediocre start, with scores of 33, 34 and 47 in his first two games. With regular opener Robin Uthappa returning to the side for their fixture against Vidarbha at Nagpur, the team management considered dropping Rahul. Skipper Gautam, however, stuck his neck out for Rahul. Batting at one-drop, Rahul repaid the faith placed on him, making a crucial 157.
“There was no looking back for Rahul from there. He scored a mountain of runs for us that season, which helped us win the Ranji Trophy,” Gautam says.
Indeed, that golden form earned Rahul a spot in the Indian Test team which toured Australia in 2014. In just his second Test, at Sydney, Rahul showed his class with a brilliant 110 — the first of his eight international centuries thus far.
For Gautam, Rahul’s success doesn’t come as a surprise. “After Kohli, Rahul is the one to watch out for in India cricket. KL is the complete package. What Virat is doing now, I feel that KL can reach that level in a couple of years,” Gautam says.
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