KL Rahul scored his first Test century at home in nine years. His form in the longer format of the game has been sublime. He has already scored three tons in England and has backed it up with a century at home. However, form has not always been Rahul’s ally through his career; some of the lean patches in his career can be attributed to him getting injured when he was in good form, and some of the patches can be because of his constant chopping and changing of batting numbers as a player. Regardless, there have been criticisms of his performances and questions about his place. After the century on Tuesday, former Indian cricket Mohammad Kaif slammed Rahul’s critics.
“How opinions change after scoring in few innings.. Now his critics say there is no one like him. Remember: KL Rahul strength is his belief and hard work. That’s what makes him rise after every fall and perform despite the pressure,” Kaif wrote on his Twitter account (Formerly known as X)
Resuming from his overnight score of 53, Rahul waltzed to his century in 190 balls. Rahul’s last Test hundred came way back in December 2016 against England in Chennai when he cracked his career-best score of 199. The Karnataka batter now has 10 Test centuries as an opener for India, surpassing former India captain Rohit Sharma and current head coach Gautam Gambhir’s tally of nine centuries at the top. Only Sunil Gavaskar (33), Virender Sehwag (22) and Murali Vijay (12) have recorded more hundreds as Test openers for India.
Before this, Rahul in 63 Test matches has scored 3789 runs at an average of 35.41 runs with 10 centuries and 19 half-centuries.
“In my opinion, this is a very important series for KL Rahul; an average of 35 does not suit him at all. It is wrong, and if he needs to better it, then he has to write his name in this series, and he batted in that way today. The backfoot punch that he plays, no one in international cricket plays it better than him. Through this series and the South Africa one, Rahul has to boost his average to 42 to 45,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel after KL Rahul scored a half-century on Day 1 of the first Test between India and West Indies.
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