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KL Rahul made his Test debut against Australia in Melbourne in 2014, in what would be MS Dhoni's last match in the longest format. The Indian batsman did not have a good start, managing just 3 and 1 in two innings. However, he went on to score his first Test century in the next game in Sydney. Since then, his Test career has been full of twists and turns.
KL Rahul had an excellent run against Australia in the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scoring six half-centuries in seven innings. While he remains the only Indian opener in recent times to score a century in Australia, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka, his poor run in the 2018-19 overseas cycle meant he would be out of the Indian playing XI until the 2021 Pataudi Trophy.
After the first two Tests against England, he remains India's highest run-scorer with 244 runs in four innings. He scored 84 and 26 on his Test comeback in Nottingham. His technique has looked compact, leaving balls outside off-stump on a consistent basis. He then scored 129 and 5 in the second Test at Lord's as India scripted a memorable 151-run victory to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
On that note, let's revisit KL Rahul's top three knocks against England in Test cricket.
#1 199 - Chepauk, 2016
To date, this remains KL Rahul's highest score in Tests. The right-hander wasn't having a particularly good series until this match, with scores of 0, 10, and 24. Come the final Test at Chepauk, Rahul decided to make it count.
Although India had an unassailable 3-0 lead coming into the game, England didn't give up, scoring 477 runs in their first innings. Rahul, along with Parthiv Patel, provided India with a 152-run opening stand to put them on the right track. He then shared a 161-run stand with Karun Nair for the fourth wicket.
Against a decent bowling lineup comprising the likes of Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid, Rahul's innings meant that India had the right foundation to respond with a massive first-innings score of their own. Nair went on to score 303, as India beat England by an innings and 75 runs.
#2 149 - The Oval, 2018
KL Rahul was under a lot of performance pressure prior to the Test, as India had already lost the series 3-1. His performances in the first four games were below par, managing just 113 runs in eight innings.
In Sir Alastair Cook's final Test match, England scored 332 runs in the first innings. In response, India scored 292 runs, as Ravindra Jadeja top-scored with 86*. With the help of Cook and Joe Root's centuries, England set India a target of 464 runs. By the end of Day 4, India were 58/3, losing the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara Pujara and Virat Kohli.
On Day 5, India lost Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari in quick succession. Rishabh Pant then joined KL Rahul in what would be an iconic partnership, albeit in a losing cause. They added 207 runs for the sixth wicket in 44.3 overs, giving Indian fans a glimmer of hope. However, an extraordinary delivery from Adil Rashid got rid of Rahul in the final session to trigger a lower-order collapse. England won the match and the series.
#3 129 - Lord's, 2021
Arguably KL Rahul's best Test hundred ever, it came in one of India's most iconic Test victories in overseas conditions. It was also Rahul's first Man of the Match award of his Test career, and the fact that it came after his comeback in the longest format made it even sweeter.
After the first Test, which ended in a draw, Joe Root won the toss and decided to put India into bat in overcast conditions at Lord's. Rahul and Rohit Sharma did an excellent job, playing out the initial tricky phase. Rohit then took the attack to the opposition as Rahul played defensively, scoring just 16 runs in his first 90 deliveries.
Rahul then took on Moeen Ali and was the main aggressor in the third-wicket partnership with Virat Kohli. He displayed a range of shots - cover drives, front foot and back foot punches. He became the first Indian opener in the last 21 years to score a century at Lord's. The last Indian opener to achieve the feat was current Indian coach Ravi Shastri.
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