KL Rahul's interesting first innings for Team India

KL Rahul had an extended training session on the eve of the Boxing day test.

After the second Test at Brisbane, Rohit Sharma was likely to be replaced but no one could guess that KL Rahul would be the guy drafted in; Suresh Raina was the expected replacement but the team management had other ideas.

Riding on some brilliant domestic performances, KL Rahul made it to the Indian squad and he was very excited about the same. Not many thought that KL Rahul would get to make his debut in this series but Rohit Sharma’s poor returns worked in the young man’s favour.

It would have been a dream come true for Rahul to make his debut at a Boxing day Test at the MCG in front of a huge crowd. India were asked to bowl first after losing the toss and the first sight of KL Rahul was when he had a misfield in the fourth over and there were clearly signs of nerves; he mistimed a slide and conceded an extra run.

The Australian innings ended just before Tea on day 2 and India played well after tea to end the day at 108/1. Ryan Harris started bowling first up to Pujara and what panned out next was disappointing for the Indian fans. Pujara was dismissed off the second ball of the day; those who switched on their televisions even two minutes late were in for a surprise. Murali Vijay was also dismissed soon after and Indians were beginning to lose the plot at 147/3.

Rahane came in next and by this time KL Rahul would have padded up and the wait for his first innings for India had started. Rahul’s wait was much longer than many would have expected because of the historic partnership between Rahane and Kohli, which was India’s best partnership in the last 10 years overseas. The Karnataka batsman had to wait for the next 4 hours to get onto the field.

Rahane couldn’t connect his sweep against Lyon’s pitched up delivery and he was given out lbw. Rahul finally was on the field and many were eager to see how this young lad approaches his innings.

He got off the mark immediately with a flick past the short leg fielder and got his first Test runs; that shot was confident enough to make the fans feel that he got rid of his nerves. But he was seen practising some shots at the non-striker’s end and didn’t seem calm enough.

The next two deliveries he faced were against Josh Hazlewood and he confidently defended both of them. He was back on strike against Lyon in the next over and he played out two dots. At this point of time, It would have been wise to give the strike back to Kohli who was nearing his 150 and take some time at the non-striker’s end to get settled.

What Rahul did next ball surprised everyone; he came down the pitch but was not upto the pitch of the ball and he went on with his shot only to see the ball going straight to Siddle who missed a simple chance; this was not the only chance that Australia dropped on this day.

Kohli was seen advising the youngster that if he wants to play shots he has to go big and not half-hearted after that previous delivery. Kohli tried his best to make the youngter feel settled at the crease. The rush of blood didn’t cease and Rahul went for an expansive sweep again. The ball pitched in the rough and he could only manage a top-edge which ended his short stay at the crease.

Many discussions followed after that dismissal and one even anticipated whether the team management would have asked him to go after the bowlers to make an early declaration; that was the last thing which Indians would do.

Perhaps it might have been a rush of blood to get a boundary against the off-spinner and feel confident. The sight of watching Kohli and Rahane play so easily on this pitch could have given him the confidence to go for his shots. Whatever it may be, only Rahul knows what he was thinking and that didn’t work out.

A player can never be judged based on his first international appearance and the same goes to KL Rahul. We have seen a lot of batsmen getting a duck on debut and turning out to be a great player later. Only time will tell what a player he turns out to be!