Ahmedabad: KL Rahul scored his last Test century in India on Dec 18, 2016, against England, precisely 3,211 days ago. Pat Cummins was yet to reach 10 Test wickets. Jasprit Bumrah had not played Test cricket. Anil Kumble was India’s coach. Ravindra Jadeja was the only member of the current team who had played Test cricket. MS Dhoni was still the captain of India’s white-ball team. Joe Root had not yet captained England, and Parthiv Patel, who is on the commentary panel for this series, was the wicketkeeper as
Wriddhiman Saha suffered an injury.
Yes, it’s been a while. That is why Rahul, not known for celebrating personal landmarks with over-thetop gestures, raised his bat to the dressing room and put two fingers in his mouth, probably as a tribute to his daughter Evaarah (Gift of God), born in March, after reaching the century mark against West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium here.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!It was the 11th of his Test career, second against West Indies and third this year.
Since becoming a father, life has been good for the 31-year-old. He enjoyed a good IPL season with Delhi Capitals and then travelled to England, reeling off 532 runs in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with two tons, establishing himself as the bulwark of the team with technical brilliance.
It has been a productive phase for Rahul since the tour of Australia in 2024-2025. In 11 Tests, he has scored 908 runs. Four fifties sit pretty next to the three tons.
In ODIs, he cemented his place as a middle-order batter-cum-finisher and a super-efficient wicketkeeper, keeping even the likes of Rishabh Pant out in marquee events like the
ICC Champions Trophy.
It wasn’t always that rosy, though. Rahul was overlooked for the final two Tests against New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai last year after a modest outing in Bangalore at No. 6, which was his newfound position. Before that, he suffered an injury in the series against England. That injury must have hurt, as just a few months ago, he became only the second visiting batter to score two tons in one of South Africa’s most impregnable fortresses, a green and spiteful pitch at Centurion in Pretoria.
It was bad timing for him, as in that five-match series against England, India decided to dish out good batting pitches, which was a deviation from their tactic of playing on turners in search of home wins and WTC points.
Post the humbling vs New Zealand, realising that he had a chance to get back to opening the innings Down Under as
Rohit Sharma was on paternity leave, Rahul quickly went to Australia and played a couple of games for India A despite not being named in that squad.
In his decade-long career, Rahul has worked with the Ravi Shastri-Virat Kohli (across Shastri’s two stints), Anil Kumble-Kohli, Rahul Dravid-Kohli, and Dravid-Rohit Sharma captain-coach regimes. He himself was interim captain in South Africa and Bangladesh.
Now, he is working with Gautam Gambhir and
Shubman Gill and is a senior player in the set-up. All the previous regimes dumped Rahul, only for them to bring him back quickly in an attempt to fit him into the batting order. It’s probably an admission that he’s too valuable an asset to lose.
Catch Lovlina Borgohain's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 5. Watch Here
Start a Conversation
Post comment