KL Rahul the middle-order batter to tone up India in ODIs
Though an effective T20 and Test opener, the player has been a great fit in the mid-innings of ODIs; handing him a regular run will help India as they head into the 2023 World Cup at home.
Moments after the second ODI between India and West Indies ended on Wednesday night, Shreyas Iyer strode to the middle and began facing throwdowns on one of the 11 pitches that occupy the square in the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The Mumbai batter, who has just recovered from Covid, wasn’t available for selection on Wednesday despite undergoing light training on the eve of the second ODI. His eagerness to feel bat on ball, even as the post-match presentation was on, was perhaps his way of saying he is ready for Friday’s third and final ODI (India have won the series by going 2-0 up).
But he may have to wait for his turn. Just a few hours earlier, India had signalled that KL Rahul will be allowed to establish himself in the middle-order of the ODI set-up. Having missed the first game against West Indies due to a family commitment, it was widely expected that Rahul - he opened in South Africa in Rohit Sharma’s absence - will replace Ishan Kishan at the top with Shikhar Dhawan unavailable. Rahul did replace Kishan in the eleven, but it was Rishabh Pant who opened instead. As skipper Rohit Sharma said later, Pant’s batting promotion shouldn’t be seen as a long-term move. It seemed more a case of enabling Rahul to settle into the middle-order.
The 29-year-old has been perennially shuffled around, but his 48-ball 49 on Wednesday was another prominent example of his suitability in the middle stages of a 50-over innings. “Rahul batted superbly. (On Pant opening) I have been asked to try different things, so this was something different. We wanted to try it in one game, and it is not permanent. We will get Shikhar back for the next game,” Sharma said after the game.
Since scoring a century on ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 2016 as opener, Rahul has batted in all positions from 1 to 6. By virtue of his standing as one of the best T20 openers, he hasn’t had to move around much in the shortest format. He has played as opener in 38 of his 52 T20I innings while 10 innings have been at No. 3.
In ODIs, it’s been a different story.
Just 21 of his 41 innings have been as opener, scoring 884 runs at a below-par strike rate of 80.58. He has batted at Nos 4, 5 or 6 in 17 innings, and his average climbs to 51.76 in these positions. But it’s the strike rate of 103.69 that is the clincher. More specifically, he is averaging 56.62 and striking at 113.81 in his 10 innings at No 5. The scores too are impressive - 7, 80, 88*, 4, 112, 12, 76, 5, 62*, 7.
For someone who was considered an opener in the classical mould in his formative years, Rahul’s ingenuity and hitting range at the back end of an innings are second to none. It is why Virat Kohli made Rahul don the gloves over Pant briefly and bat at No 5 when the latter was going through an indifferent phase. Rahul didn’t disappoint, notably smashing that 80 off 52 balls against Australia in Rajkot and the 88 not out in 64 balls against New Zealand in Hamilton within the space of a month at the start of 2020.
"Batting at No 5 like that for the team, this is probably the best Rahul has played at international level. He showed maturity and class," Kohli said after the knock against Australia.
Rahul didn't carry on long enough to fully explode on Wednesday, but neither fast bowlers nor spinners are spared when he is in the mood. He is as capable of dispatching left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein for six as he is of hitting the pace of Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph. Suryakumar Yadav, too, has a similar range of shots that has bolstered his case in the middle-order recently. He showed a more restrained side to his game on Wednesday, accumulating 64 off 83 balls when the team was in a spot of bother.
What Rahul, Yadav and Pant, who will slot back in at No 4 or 5 with Dhawan returning, ensure is the presence of game-changers in the middle-order that India can bank on going into the 2023 ODI World Cup at home. It is an area of their game that caused a great deal of heartache during the 2019 World Cup in England. As long as they stop tinkering with Rahul's middle-order role, a durable fix may have finally been found.
