A man of few words KL Rahul, when the situation demands, does most of the talking. His bat too has the same habit. At Leeds, on an overcast morning, where India was just one batting collapse away from a possible early setback in the series, Rahul produced an innings of gravitas. Between overs, he also kept reminding his batting partner Rishabh Pant, prone to getting sudden bouts of aggression, the virtues of staying calm during crucial periods of play. Rahul, and his bat, came up with a joint statement and that was about his importance to this team with young decision-makers.
Rahul’s technique and his painstaking cherry-picking of his many strokes for the situation guided India through the tough phase. The carefree Pant, unlike Rahul a firm believer of playing his natural game, too scored a hundred. He made 118, was out in 72nd over but Rahul scored more, 137, and stayed longer, getting out in the 85th over. The opener stayed back to ensure that England were under scoreboard pressure when they came out to bat in the fourth innings.
India were all out for 364, setting England a victory target of 371. With the Indian innings finishing with about 20 overs to go, Shubman Gill got a shot at the English batsmen late on Monday. At stumps, England were 21/0. The final day of this opening Test throws up endless possibilities. Rahul has always excelled on these shores, this was his third Test hundred in England. His is a rarest of rare Test career graph. Rahul has just one hundred at home and more in England and South Africa. Today’s knock showed why Rahul does well on pitches with life.
