Not for the first time in his chequered 54-match Test career, KL Rahul finds his role in India’s Test 11 debated. This time around, it’s for a good reason.
During India’s ongoing five-Test tour of Australia, Rahul was slotted to bat in the middle order but Rohit Sharma’s unavailability for the Perth Test and injury to Shubman Gill on tour put him back in the frame as a makeshift opener. He stepped up admirably, scoring two watchful, time-absorbing innings of 26 and 77 in one of India’s most famous overseas Test victories.
But now, with Rohit having linked up with the team and reports suggesting that Gill is in line to play the Adelaide Test starting December 6, there is plenty of debate growing as to whether Rahul should, based on his runs in Perth, keep opening the innings, bat at No 3 or return to his original role at No 6.
Rahul was used as a makeshift opener in Perth, with the team management aware that Rohit would be back and with hopes of Gill recovering from his finger injury. This is not a new role for Rahul. The 32-year-old has batted as an opener in 77 out of his 93 career Test innings, but since mid-2019 when Rohit was bumped up to open at the dawn of the World Test Championship he has been preferred in the middle order where he averages 34.20 as compared to 35.38 at the top.
Since Rohit became a full-time opener in 2019, Rahul has only opened on a temporary basis when another option has been dropped or injured. For the five-Test tour of England in 2021, he was recalled as a middle-order batsman but once his best mate Mayank Agarwal was injured before the series began, Rahul was promoted to open alongside Rohit.
The results were mixed. He began with 84 and 26 in a draw at Trent Bridge and then scored a superb match-setting 129 in the first innings at Lord’s in a match India went on to win. After that century, however, Rahul’s scores were 5, 0, 8, 17 and 46. But, given it was a temporary role, it was considered job well done.
The next time Rahul found himself sent back up the order to open was December 2021, when Rohit was injured. His 123 in the first innings at Centurion was another gem that put India on course for 1-0 lead in the series, but once again he struggled to replicate that fluency as India went on to lose the series 1-2. After that 123, Rahul made 23, 50, 8, 12 and 10.
As 2022 ended, India toured Bangladesh and lost Rohit for the two Tests after he injured himself during one of the ODIs. Suddenly Rahul found himself named captain and opener for the Tests, and this time he struggled with scores of 22, 23, 10 and 2.
India’s next series was the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home, and with calls growing to recall Shubman Gill after a terrific run in ODI cricket, there was pressure on Rahul to keep his place in the team. He opened with Rohit in the first two Tests and was promptly dropped after making 38 runs in three innings.
Away from the team due to injury sustained during the 2023 IPL, Rahul was recalled for the Tests in South Africa at the end of the year and was batted back in the middle order. A stroke-fueled 101 as India were bowled out for 245 on day one at Centurion was the stuff of dreams, but innings of 4 and 8 followed.
With the team management content to bat Rahul in the middle order for the duration of 2024, a busy year of Test cricket, he made 86 and 22 in the series opener against England but once again was sidelined with injury for several months. On return to the team in September, Rahul played three of India’s five home Test matches with scores of 16, 22*, 68, 0 and 12.
Prior to the start of the Australia series, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir stated of Rahul: “Imagine how many countries have players like KL who can open the batting and can bat at No 6 as well?”
And as soon as India hit a mini crisis, it was Rahul who was used as a makeshift opener in Perth where he batted very well in a role he had in the past played with aplomb: that of the man tasked to see off the new ball and bat for time. In the first innings, Rahul scored 26 off 77 deliveries before he was incorrectly given out and in the second, he made 77 off 176 in what stands as India’s first double-century opening stand in Tests in Australia.
Hence, the clamour for him to essay the opener’s role even when Rohit and Gill return. However, the fact is that Rohit, the captain, and aged 37, is unlikely to bat anywhere else given that for more than five years he’s been opening. Second, India have taken measured move to shape Gill into a one-down batsman, and the fact is that he’s made over 800 runs in Tests this year. So, once again, Rahul’s role as an opener looks to temporary and he should bat precisely where the selectors have recalled him for the last three times – in the middle order.
It is not a slight on him or his performance in Perth. It is just the dynamics of the team. India’s middle order needs a batsman of Rahul’s solidity in such conditions, and given the maverick nature of Rishabh Pant, the failure of Dhruv Jurel in the first Test and the rawness of Nitish Kumar Reddy, the best option to hold the middle order together at No 6 is Rahul.
He’s done whatever the team has asked for him, down the years. Selflessly, he’s gone and faced the new ball in the three toughest places to open in Tests – England, South Africa and Australia. He’s also scored good runs in the middle order, and if that is where the selectors and team management value Rahul the most, given that Rohit and Gill have fixed roles, then that’s how it should be.
