Bangladesh will run into a different KL Rahul
When the two sides had clashed the last few times, the batter had seemed hesitant but the injury break helped him turn over a new leaf
When India last played Bangladesh in December 2022, KL Rahul was in the kind of rut in which a batter is not quite sure where his next run will come from.
In the two-match Test series, the stand-in captain scored 57 runs in four innings at an average of 14.25. In the ODIs earlier, he had amassed 95 runs in three matches, averaging 31.67. That is a mere 152 runs in seven innings.
When he fell cheaply (2 runs) in the final innings of the tour, it added fuel to the meme-fest on social media as cricket experts and fans mercilessly trolled and mocked the batter.
Rahul himself was honest about not being up to the mark during the series on turning tracks, admitting there were lessons to be learnt from the Bangladesh experience. “You obviously have that responsibility to do well," Rahul had said at the end of the series in his press conference. "That never changes whatever format you are playing; (you want to) do the best you can, (but) that doesn’t happen every time. At least I have seen a few ups and downs in whatever little cricket I have played. I know that neither of the things last too long."
Now as Bangladesh gear up to face India in the World Cup game in Pune on Thursday, their bowlers will be up against a transformed version of Rahul. The hesitancy in his footwork is a thing of the past and after starting the World Cup with a sensational 97 not out against Australia in Chennai, the keeper-batter is clearly brimming with confidence.
The above cycle points to how Rahul remains an enigma — brilliant one season and average the next. When he gets on a roll, he is unstoppable, like in 2017 in Tests when he scored nine half-centuries in seven Tests from February to November.
Similarly, when he gets into a rut, he finds it difficult to break the shackles of low scores as seen in 2022 and the last Bangladesh series. When he suffered the thigh injury in May this year, social media was again flooded with criticism over his strike-rate of 113.22 (in nine games).
There were question marks over his recovery for the World Cup as well as his form. But the talented cricketer has come back with a vengeance to again silence his critics. The time away from the game -- never an easy thing to deal with -- seems to have helped him break the rut.
The runs are flowing like never before. Apart from his touch play, the bowlers are being demoralised by his effortless hitting. For many he is batting like the Rahul of IPL 2016 and 2017 when he got runs at a strike-rate of 146.49 and 158.41 respectively. Trent Woodhill, who was with Royal Challengers Bangalore at that time as Batting Talent Development and Fielding coach, attributes Rahul’s quality play to a late transfer of weight.
“He’s class and reminds me a lot of Rohit Sharma and Damien Martyn before them, going back further to Gordon Greenidge. They hit the ball so late and their swing is so pure that they generate so much power through a late weight transfer through an unimpeded back swing and follow through,” Woodhill told a sports magazine in an earlier interview.
The coaches who have worked with him always maintain that for Rahul, it is about the mindset because in terms of skills, he is armed with a complete all-round game. “It is mental strength, it is his confidence. The technique, skill was all there," said his childhood coach Samuel Jayaraj.
So, how did Rahul rediscover his best game ahead of the World Cup?
“He has taken his game to another level. I used to go and sit in NCA and watch him and I could see the hunger on his face. I had said before the Asia Cup, in case he gets a match, he will get a hundred,” said Jayaraj who was Rahul's first coach when he came to his club at the age of 11. “The main thing was that the injury shouldn’t have been even .005 per cent in his mind. That was the thing we wanted to get out of his mind. All credit to National Cricket Academy; it was a lesson in how to take care of a player.”
Most champion players go the extra distance to be at their best come the big stage. For this World Cup, Rahul went about his process at the NCA with a maniacal zeal.
"There was only one motivation that I had to come back before the World Cup, and I have to be a part of this home World Cup," Rahul said after his match-winning unbeaten 97 against Australia. "Every day in the morning that’s what (the aim of winning the World Cup) got me out of bed and pushed me to do the boring work in the gym, and that tells you how special it is to me and everybody. Playing a home world cup is a dream for a cricketer and is special to all cricketers," said Rahul.
