KL Rahul marked his best-ever Test calendar year on Friday in Ahmedabad when he struck his 11th Test century against the West Indies. Blighted by injuries and inconsistencies, as well as an appearance of constantly shuffling throughout the batting order, Rahul’s Test averages still stand far from the quality of the batter he is touted to be in the format.
The latest century ended a prolonged spell of 3,211 days since December 2016 for Rahul, the last time he scored a century in India in whites. Rahul had since gone without a century in 16 consecutive Tests at home, all while curiously building a solid profile as one of India’s bankable batters overseas. Despite a rich haul in SENA conditions, Rahul has often been criticised for his wavering returns and never really cashing in big on any series until the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy rolled by this year in England. The 33-year-old recorded his first-ever 500-run series, racking up two centuries and as many fifties on tour.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri also highlighted that Rahul’s middling overall performance was not a result of being rotated through the batting order, dispelling the misconception that he has not received a long rope at any position. Turning to data, Shastri observed how Rahul has still played a majority of his innings at the top of the order since his last Test century at home, a career-best 199 against England in Chennai in late 2016.
“It’s a misconception that he has gone up and down the order. Because if you actually look at his career, since that Test he opened (2016 against England), he has opened in 94 innings and there have been a total of 110 innings in that period,” said Shastri on commentary, moments before the lunch break on Day 2.
“So, it is 90 per cent of the time, he has opened the innings. It’s because of the mix in white-ball cricket that you get a little confused,” he added.
Despite slamming his third ton of the year, Rahul failed to convert it to a big score against the Windies attack, falling on the first ball after lunch on Friday.
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