Rahul sets early tone in SL with adaptive mind and preparation against spin

KL Rahul made a little shimmy to reach the ball, unfurled his wrist and executed a picture-perfect cover drive, leaving Prabath Jayasuriya smiling wistfully on the opening day of the first Test here.

It was a personal statement of his authority over Sri Lanka’s premier bowler.

But it also reflected India’s newfound confidence against tweakers after setbacks at home against New Zealand and South African slow bowlers dimmed their aura. In a way, it was in the fitness of things that the senior-most batter in this Indian team took it upon himself the task of stonewalling the Lankan spinners. But Rahul went through extensive preparations before crossing the Palk Strait at the Wings Sports Centre in Mumbai, managed by former India player and selector Jatin Paranjape. His India teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal too trained there, focusing on tackling the Lankan spin armada. Rahul’s early coach Samuel Jayaraj was not surprised one bit.

“He has always been a meticulous person, strong in his mind and technique. But more than that, he is always willing to learn and adapt. Once he gets a good start, Rahul knows how to capitalise on it. For him, I think, it was all about sustaining his concentration for a longer period. Now, he is a lot better at rotating strike too,” Jayaraj said. The Karnataka batter’s half-century in the ongoing Galle Test was a testament to it. Rahul has consumed 162 balls for his 77 before retiring due to cramps, and his strike rate of 47.53 is the slowest among all the Indian batters who batted on Day 1.

But the comfort offered by the presence of a solid batter at the other end helped others like Devdutt Padikkal (SR: 73.59) or Jaiswal (SR: 86.48) engage in free-flowing batting. It may look a tad boring to watch Rahul batting in tranquil mode, when he actually can dominate the bowlers with some twinkling shots.

But as an opener, Rahul values the team’s cause more than making an individual style statement.

India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak underlined the responsibility Rahul was willing to shoulder for the team. “He is someone, when he plays in one-day (match) as you have seen him, he bats at number 6 or 5. So, when you are a senior batsman, and if you are open to bat at any number and help the team, I think that is a great player to have.

“So, for a team, he is someone who is very useful. In a red ball match, he opens, in a one-day match, he bats wherever required. Now, the way he is batting, he is taking a lot of responsibilities, he is trying to create a lot of partnerships, and that is something really good to have, and he has been very, very consistent,” said Kotak.

Consistency is the key word here. In the current World Test Championship cycle (2024-2027), Rahul is currently at sixth with 873 runs from 10 Tests, averaging over 54 with three hundreds.

Among the Indian batters, only skipper Shubman Gill has scored more runs than him - 966 from nine matches with five hundreds.

Possibly, Rahul is also relishing his role as the batting fulcrum after the departure of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane from the Test side.