MANCHESTER: India captain Shubman Gill and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant have been in the limelight among India batters in the ongoing five-match Test series in England. The former has scored more than 700 (722) runs in four Tests while the latter had multiple centuries apart from the brave fifty he scored after getting injured in his foot in Manchester.
Then there are Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar who too had their shares of highs following their epic match-saving innings on Day 5 of the fourth Test at the Old Trafford Ground on Sunday. And deservingly enough. If Pant is third on the list of leading scorers led by Gill, Jadeja is right behind him with 454 runs under his belt which included an unbeaten ton and four fifties.
Amidst all these headline grabbers, opener KL Rahul and the role he has played so far for India has somehow flown under the radar. Retirement of former captain Rohit Sharma from the format meant Rahul finally got an opportunity to stake his claim on the opening slot by piling on runs during the England tour and he delivered.
More than the runs he has scored so far - 511 including two hundreds and as many fifties - the way he has batted deserves more attention. Among all India batters, he looked most comfortable in English conditions. As should be the way, he is playing late, keeping the bat close to the body, meeting the ball under the eye and not rushing into the stroke. More importantly, he is almost leaving everything outside the line while covering his off stump. These are the secrets for success in England and Rahul seems to have mugged them up thoroughly.
Except those two runs he scored in the first innings of the second Test at Edgbaston, Rahul has crossed double-figures mark in each of the remaining seven innings. Besides, he stitched together crucial partnerships with other batters at various points of time to keep India in the hunt during the series. Be it his 195-run partnership with Pant for the fourth wicket in the second innings of the first match or the 141 runs he added with the same batter in the first essay of the Lord's Test. The latest was the rescue act he and Gill carried out when India were two down without even opening their account in the second innings in Manchester. The duo added 188 runs for the third wicket to give India hope of putting up a fight in challenging conditions.
There are also a couple of knocks where he couldn't convert the starts but in those innings as well he built partnerships with fellow batters to set the platform for upcoming batters. One such innings came in Birmingham where he added 55 runs with Yashasvi Jaiswal. The other came in the recently-concluded match where he and Jaiswal once again scored 94 runs together to give India a solid start in the first innings.
In most of these innings, the Karnataka batter has held one end and played patiently blunting England's pace attack. With the Dukes balls understandably getting soft after the first 30-35 overs in the hot and humid weather, his patient innings have only helped India's cause. The 33-year-old right-hand batter has faced 998 balls so far with only his captain Gill ahead of him playing 1106 balls. Interestingly, he is only the batter among the top five run scorers not to have hit a six. But he has smashed 67 fours, again only behind Gill, who has scored 79. His affinity with fours highlights his style of play, which looks more inclined towards playing grounded shots rather than going for expansive drives.
And not to forget his role at the slip cordon. He is among one of the consistent fielders in that position and has taken four catches so far, the joint best by an Indian player along with Karun Nair. Rahul might have gone under radar but it has worked in his favour. Come the fifth and final Test at the Oval, Rahul will not mind once again silently doing his job without much fanfare.