Lokesh Rahul: India's key player for the home season

Ever since the Indian team returned from their trip to the Caribbean Islands and the U.S., Kannaur Lokesh Rahul has been at the centre of the buzz in the lead up to the long home season of Tests, among the cricket aficionados and the more respected voices in the game. Some have even drawn comparisons between him and Kohli. Chris Gayle, their teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, reckoned that Rahul could give Virat Kohli a run for his money in the coming years, when asked about the former on the sidelines of a recent event to launch his autobiography ‘Six Machine’ in Chennai. It has indeed been a dream run across formats for the youngster in the last few months and he is being rightly rewarded with such effusive praise from all quarters. Former India Team Director Ravi Shastri too was emphatic in his opinion about who he thought was the most improved cricketer in the world in the last one year. Life in cricket had seen a quick turnaround for the boy from Bangalore.Cut back to a few years ago, the cricketing world got its first glimpse of Rahul when he turned out for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. Appearing out of place in the shortest format of the game, he displayed correctness in technique but exposed limitations in stroke play. Continually struggling to score at even run a ball, he ended a middling season aggregating 166 runs from 8 innings at a strike rate just a touch above 100. In domestic cricket, he was a prolific scorer though. His breakthrough season in domestic cricket came in 2013-14 when he scored 1033 runs, including a match-winning century in the final, and played a leading role in Karnataka’s Ranji title triumph. The very next year, he was well on his way to go one better and shatter a few records, having racked up 838 runs in just 5 matches, but his twin centuries in the Duleep Trophy final had ensured enough to put him on the flight to Australia for India’s Test tour.

By then, Rahul had been earmarked as a sure Test prospect by none less than his illustrious namesake and idol Rahul Dravid. After initial nerves and an utterly forgettable debut at the MCG, Rahul settled down in the next Test in Sydney. In a show of faith after that disappointing debut, he was sent to bat at the top of the order by Kohli. Facing up to the likes of Starc, Hazlewood, Harris and Lyon, a more calm and composed Rahul compiled his debut Test century in just his 2^nd Test. Since then, Rahul has been one of India’s 3 choices in the opening slot. The watershed moment in Rahul’s young career though arrived in this year’s edition of the IPL. Backed by his India captain, Rahul unleashed a very different avatar of his for RCB. It seemed that he was on a mission to break the shackles, from being branded a Test specialist. Batting in the middle order and occasionally as an opener, Rahul matched Kohli and Gayle stroke for stroke. His 397 runs in the tournament at a strike rate of 146.49 was not a mere improvement in numbers, but a testament to his all-round growth as a batsman by leaps and bounds.

Not long since, Rahul turned out for the first time in India colours on the tour of Zimbabwe. Opening for a second string team, he continued his rich vein of form and became the first Indian to hit a century on ODI debut. Most recently, he almost scaled the impossible in India’s chase of 245 against West Indies in the T20I at Florida. Batting at No.4, his whirlwind century off 46 balls narrowly missed out on ensuring India’s win nevertheless he had scored the fastest ever century by an Indian across all formats and the joint second fastest ever in T20s. In the matter of few months, Rahul had moved on from being branded a Test specialist to possessing the unique feat of having scored centuries in all formats, one that even Kohli is yet to achieve. To cut a long story short, his improvement into a batsman for all weather was complete.

With a long home season ahead, an inform Rahul is a very key figure in the team. Yet, the irony is that all his success has come overseas and he is still to play a Test or for that matter in any format at home though he was a part of the Indian squad for the home series against South Africa last year. His Test record till date reads:

Matches	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
8	13	0	492	158	37.84	52.84	3	1

A closer look at his numbers indicate that he has had mixed fortunes so far in Tests, fluctuating between excellence and failure. He had 2 centuries to his credit in 10 innings before the tour of the Caribbean Islands, but had also registered single digit scores in 7 out of the remaining 8. However, his current vein of form stands him in good stead ahead of the home season. Notching up his 3^rd century and following it up with another fifty in Tests and a stellar performance later in the T20I, Rahul had done enough on the Windies tour to ensure he is higher up in the pecking order to partner Vijay in the 1st Test against New Zealand at Kanpur.A very good player of spin, Rahul’s excellent track record in domestic cricket leaves no doubts over his effectiveness in home Tests despite having never played one yet. He is one of the few with a 50-plus career average currently in first-class cricket. Along with a sound technique to see off the moving ball, he is also equipped with nimble footwork and range of strokes to counter the spinners. Once settled at the crease after seeing off the new ball, Rahul reveals that his ploy against spinners is to use his feet and attack them not allowing them to settle. Much like his captain, Rahul’s biggest USP for success across formats is his unflinching temperament under pressure and his dependence on pure cricketing strokes making batting look easy. It is expected that these qualities will help him live up to his promise in the long run. His fluctuating overall run in Test cricket notwithstanding, the last few months have shown us that he has all the ingredients to excel on a consistent basis in the upcoming season and beyond. In playing all his Tests abroad, Rahul in a way is emulating his teammate Ajinkya Rahane who coincidentally also started off with a horror debut before touring overseas for the next 17 Tests before he could return home. One among India’s best batsmen in the overseas sojourn, Rahane had returned home to score twin centuries against South Africa in the Delhi Test, in a low-scoring series in which no other batsman from the two teams touched the three figure mark. Having gone through a similar test of character abroad, it is ideally expected that Rahul will be capable of carrying forward his form at home in a similar manner. Conditions in India are also not that different from the slow tracks of Colombo or Caribbean where he had scored centuries previously. As India prepares for a gruelling home season, India will pin their hopes on him to take inspiration from both Rahane and Kohli and provide much-needed stability and assurance at the top of the order.