KL Rahul caught in a downward spiral

In cricket, one can’t but marvel at the sight of a batsman being beaten by pace. The bowler barges in, and unleashes a delivery, lightning quick as it were, as the batsman makes his move. The extra speed means the ball at times has passed the bat even before it can come down to defend, and crashes on to the stumps. It can render the batsman helpless.

On Tuesday night, KL Rahul could have felt that way.

To Mark Wood’s 146kph missile, the India opener was a tad late to react, and got bowled for 0. But to see the dismissal in isolation is not right. Here was India’s top-performing T20I opener since 2019 out for a third duck in four games—his lean patch stretching from the third T20I against Australia in Sydney on December 8.

Since that game, Rahul has stayed in the team bio-bubble for three months without getting a game, before coming into the eleven in this T20I series. Rust or sheer poor technique, Rahul played on a wide delivery from Jofra Archer in the first game and then edged behind a mildly swinging Sam Curran delivery in the next match. Collectively, the stay of 14 balls yielded one run.

With India trailing 1-2 in the five-match series, and facing a must-win fourth game here on Thursday, the focus is on an off-colour Rahul. More so because in their keenness to experiment prior to the T20 World Cup in October-November in India, the team has unearthed an attacking left-handed opening option in Ishan Kishan while another proven T20 performer Suryakumar Yadav (dropped after not getting to bat on debut) waits for his chance.

Is it time to give Rahul a break? Or, is it fair to ignore the consistency of two years due to three poor scores in this series? The answer will have to wait till India name the eleven for the fourth game on Thursday evening.

Numbers show why Rahul is so crucial. Since 2019, only skipper Virat Kohli (911) has scored more runs than Rahul (761) for India; his average (38.05) is the best after Kohli (60.73) for any Indian player with a minimum 12 games. At the start of the England series, Rahul had an average of 44.70 with a strike rate of 141.52.

In the last three IPLs, as Rahul’s role at the Kings XI Punjab franchise expanded after he became captain, he has toned down batting aggression. His average went up (from 54.91 in 2018 to 55.83 in 2020) while his strike-rate has dipped (158.41 in 2018 to 129.34 in 2020).

His consistency has reflected in India’s results too, especially in limited-overs formats. A batsman with a classical technique whose big ambition is to play 100 Tests (the 28-year-old has played 36 Tests), he can hit the acceleration mode elegantly. He has become a perfect ally for Rohit Sharma at the top. On the flipside, through his seven-year India career, Rahul has always had consistent runs mixed with lean patches, injuries and even suspension due to off-field issues.

It started with his debut Test series in Australia in 2014, where he batted for close to six hours to score his maiden century in Sydney. Between then and the 2016 West Indies tour, he scored three Test centuries abroad. Rahul scored a century on ODI debut too that year and then became the third Indian to score a century in all three formats. His stock rose with five straight Test half-centuries against the visiting Australia in 2017.

Rahul, being seen as the next big thing in Indian cricket, injured his shoulder in that series, and was ruled out of the 2017 IPL. He made a Test comeback later that year, but his scores were never the same again. He has made only one Test century since then and has increasingly been used only in limited-overs formats.

He blazed the 2018 IPL, scoring 659 runs in 14 games. But a controversial remark on a TV chat show with Hardik Pandya saw both suspended, early in 2019. He made a grand comeback at IPL 2019 (593 runs, 14 games) and scored 670 runs in the 2020 IPL edition. His T20I scores also went up, before this recent dip.

For now he has Kohli’s confidence. “I was going through a lean patch about two games ago,” Kohli said, referring to his dismissal for zero in the first T20 tie. He has since top-scored two games in a row, a match-winning 73* followed by 77*. “For us, he’s been a champion player. If you look at his stats in the last two-three years, they are probably better than anyone in world cricket in T20s. He’ll continue to be one of our main batters with Rohit at the top of the order. We know once he starts playing positively and a few shots come off, it’s a matter of five-six balls in this format, suddenly you’re back in the zone.”

India batting coach Vikram Rathour too is confident. “Three failures do not change the fact that he’s maybe the best batsman we have in this format. This is the time that, as a team, we need to support him. Absolutely sure he will come out of the lean phase he’s going through,” he said.

Could one then assume Rahul’s spot is secure and experiments like Yadav’s drafting in won’t happen soon? Rathour left everyone guessing. “That’s the discussion (on experimenting) the team hasn’t had so far. We have a day for the (fourth) match. We will see what the team needs at this stage,” he said.