KL Rahul vs Ajinkya Rahane: Comparing the stats of the two batters after 58 Tests

Team India find themselves in an abyss after losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 1-3 to Australia away from home. As a consequence, India relinquished the trophy for the first time since 2014, after having won two consecutive series Down Under. This last fact, more than anything else, will hurt them deeply.

Some of India's worries were compounded by the fact that most of their top batters did not get going. Although their bowling looked good in patches and was instrumental in restricting the Australian batters from time to time, their batters simply failed to live up to expectations and struggled big-time.

The likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma disappointed the most while others, except young Yashasvi Jaiswal, impressed only in patches. KL Rahul was asked to shift down to number three in the fourth Test in Melbourne, was one of them.

Rahul's numbers read 26, 77, 37, 7, 84, 4*, 24, 0, 4, and 13 in the 10 innings he batted in this series. His demotion to No.3 in the Boxing Day Test was to accommodate skipper Rohit Sharma at the top of the order, but nothing worked in the team's favor. Sharma eventually sat out of the final Test, and Rahul amassed 276 runs at an average of 30 in the series.

In the 58 Tests he has played so far, Rahul has aggregated 3,257 runs at an average of 33.57. He boasts of eight centuries and 17 half-centuries in his career and is expected to go on and play for a few more years for the country.

Although his record is far from exemplary, the team management has often shown immense faith in him, often leading to denigrating results.

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KL Rahul is often compared to Ajinkya Rahane

Another fine batter, Ajinkya Rahane, under whose leadership India won the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, is someone whom Rahul has often been compared to. Both these batters display an immense wealth of patience when they walk out to bat and are as confident in the offense as they are in defense.

Both Rahane and Rahul show little emotion when they bat, but if one's team is in trouble, it helps if either or both are at the crease. While in the former's case, it has often been backed by big daddy performances, Rahul remains an enigma whose best performances for India are perhaps yet to come. He has scored runs in patches and struggled for consistency.

Rahane, who has been discarded by the selectors, has played 85 Tests so far in his career, amassing 5,077 runs at an average of 38.46. He has scored 12 centuries and 26 half-centuries in his career.

If the comparison between the two were to be more statistical, it would be better to see where Rahane stood after he had played 58 Tests. He had already piled up 3,759 runs by the time he had played 58 Tests at an average of 42.33. In those matches, Rahane scored 10 centuries and 19 half-centuries.

Rahane, therefore, edges ahead of Rahul when the comparison comes between the two in their 58 matches. However, if the management continues to show faith in Rahul, he might turn things around. Nonetheless, his returns have hardly justified that faith - he has now scored just three half-centuries in his last 15 Test innings.