It's been just 30 minutes when India held Australia to a stalemate in the Boxing Day Test and skipper MS Dhoni spoke at the press conference. A few minutes later, he announced that it was his last Test. Boom! There wasn't social media then (or as much) but something had happened, you could feel it in the air. A three-time ICC title-winning captain had just announced that he wouldn't play red-ball cricket for India anymore. That MCG Test or the whole series rather is known for Dhoni retiring from the format and the birth of Virat Kohli, the captain. There's something else that happened in that Test - a new No.6, in KL Rahul.
An opening batter mostly, Rahul played down in the middle order since there was no space in the top order, however, his first hit-out that lasted just eight deliveries indicated that he wasn't made to play in the middle order.
Immediately, a change was made and Rahul batted at No.3 in the second innings and the result wasn't that different. He scored two runs lesser. The next game, he opened the innings at the SCG, smashed his maiden century and he was off and running.
When he made his debut, Rahul was always this solid batter, who had the technique to succeed in all formats and in the next few years, he had a Test hundred to his name in Sri Lanka, West Indies, at home in India and England. He was already flourishing in T20 cricket but wasn't able to make a spot in ODIs, since he has become a compulsive opener across formats. And ODI was one format where the top three of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli could not be touched at one point. But he was always the backup.
Then came a period of lull where it felt like nothing was working for Rahul. He was not able to score runs in Tests, ODIs he was still not getting enough chances and in T20s somehow it looked like Rahul had taken it upon himself to score all the runs for the team. The fluidity had gone, there was no intent, Rahul would play in a shell with an odd boundary or so and then came resurgence. Due to Rishabh Pant's injury, India needed a makeshift wicketkeeper for a few games and the management decided to give Rahul a go. In the first innings at No. 5 and Rahul smashed an 80 against Australia. The next game an 88 and a few days later a century against New Zealand, it all started to come together for Rahul. Alas, just in the ODIs.
His T20 game got poorer and poorer as even though he had those 600-plus seasons in IPL but less talked about his strike rate, the better it is. He had a poor T20 World Cup in Australia with four single-digit scores and was the last nail in the coffin as far as his place in the shortest format was concerned. As far as Tests were concerned, Rahul hit a century at Lord's and Centurion in the same year but then came a lull which saw him score 125 runs in 10 innings and was out of Test team as well.
Rahul keeping wickets solved the management's problem in ODIs and a smashing World Cup meant that he wasn't going anywhere as far as the 50 overs are concerned. Destiny has, somehow, something planned for everyone and it had for Rahul as well.
Rishabh Pant was still far away from a comeback, let alone Test matches, after his brutal accident last December. Ishan Kishan needed a break from all the travelling and being on the road for the last few months and the management didn't trust KS Bharat much as far as overseas games were concerned otherwise he would have played at least one Test in the Caribbean.
The Indian management had only one option, to resort to the crisis man, the makeshift wicketkeeper and Rahul delivered again. Push him into the corner and see him flourish... that has been the case and Rahul showed yet again what a slight adjustment and mindset shift can do as far as revitalising your career is concerned.
Here he was, 9 years later, in a Boxing Day Test match batting at No.6 yet again, this time in Centurion and with an experience of 47 games in red-ball cricket for India. The situation wasn't ideal as Rahul came in to bat when India had just lost Shreyas Iyer after a 67-run partnership and saw Virat Kohli and R Ashwin depart too in the next few minutes while he was stranded at the other end. At 121/6, India were staring down the barrel and Rahul just calmed everything down.
Rahul the middle-order player has broken all the shackles, he doesn't come with pre-conceived plans or a mindset and plays according to the situation. Maybe that's what was hindering him as an opening batter as he had so many balls to play, which gave him room to play some extra ones to get settled, which the middle-order role doesn't provide. And, Rahul is too good a player to be kept quiet for long and has already gotten experience batting in the middle.
Yes, the conditions were challenging, the situation wasn't ideal and that's why this 101 is too special to be written off just as a hundred in record books. An overseas century against a raging Proteas pace attack on a surface which was up and down and still Rahul managed to play at a strike rate of 137. Rahul probably has more shots than anyone in the team and he just needed the right batting number to showcase. Earlier, it seemed like the opening was the best for him, but due to lack of clarity Rahul had become a bane more than the boon for his team and with the lack of middle-order options, especially in Test cricket, he might have sealed his spot for the time being.
