India’s top three performed superbly in the second ODI against Australia, batting 210 balls between them to score 216 runs, but it was KL Rahul’s middle-order heroics that stood out most. With his blistering 80 from No.5, he might have given Virat Kohli the answer to India’s long-running middle-order conundrum.
The debate surrounding India’s unsettled batting order had further escalated after Kohli’s surprise call to push himself down to No.4 in the series-opener in Mumbai. While that was addressed in Rajkot, with the skipper returning to the slot that he owns and responding with a fine 78, it was KL Rahul who stole the show with his blistering 80 in India’s first innings effort of 340-6. Through his performance, Rahul showed that be could be a solid middle-order batsman, one on whom they could count on in any situation.
On Friday, he looked a class apart, unleashing stroke after stroke against Australia’s best, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, at monotonous ease. His 52-ball stay featured six fours and three sixes. He also became the fourth-fastest Indian to 1,000 runs in the format.
Rahul’s flexibility and reliability are a throwback to a certain other Rahul from Karnataka, who too, apart from donning the wicketkeeping gloves to lend balance to his team, batted at pretty much every position from 1 to 7 during his 16-year long career. Whether KL Rahul can match that sort of consistency over that long a period remains to be seen. For the moment, it is holding Indian cricket in good stead.
