CHENNAI: It was always going to be about KL Rahul and Sanju Samson — the two keeper-batters and captains. The former, coming back from an injury layoff, had expressed his interest in throwing his name in the ring for the national comeback in the shortest format. The latter, perpetually rated for his talent and what he is capable of despite not getting a long rope in a specific position.
So, when Rahul and Samson walked out for the toss on Sunday afternoon at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, the contest was all about how the two keepers fare as batters and what they do for their respective teams. By the time the match ended, here is how it looked — Samson hit an unbeaten 82 from 52 balls as his team beat LSG by 20 runs. Rahul, meanwhile, opened the batting and finished the day with 58 from 44 balls while trying to chase 194.
From the outset, it might seem like there was a clear winner in Samson, but there was more to it. For starters, both the innings had a common trait. They started slow before getting into their groove and accelerating.
Samson, at one point, was batting on 21 from as many balls. Rahul, on the other hand, was on 26 from 26. Samson hit consecutive sixes to get himself going while Rahul hit two sixes and a four in three balls to race to 42 off 29.
However, this is where the commonality ends. Samson was batting first on a surface where the ball was not necessarily coming onto the bat. RR had lost both the openers and they had to reassess and see how the pitch is behaving and what is a good total for them to defend. Which explains the run-a-ball 21 Samson was on.
In fact, it was not the kind of approach Samson had followed in the past — he has been prone to be aggressive irrespective of the situation and as a result, losing his wicket and leaving his team in a spot of bother.Here, however, the 29-year-old Kerala batter was calculative.
He waited, knew whom to take on when and had taken along another player who had been inconsistent in the past — Riyan Parag. Together they added 93 runs from 59 balls as RR went from 49/2 to 142/3. Even as Parag got out, Samson kept going. He took on Yash Thakur and Mohsin Khan, helping RR get to what Rahul later called an "over-par" total.
Meanwhile, Rahul stood at the non-striker's end and watched his team lose three quick wickets in as many overs. While Deepak Hooda counterattacked, Rahul didn't.
He paced his innings as always, strolling at run-a-ball until 26. Although one could argue that they lost early wickets and Rahul needed to play the anchor, the captain has always batted like that for LSG — Rahul's strike rate last season before he got injured was 113.22 — because of how others bat around him. It is a high risk approach in this format. Something that could cost the game every once in a while.
On Sunday, to continue the same approach despite knowing how the pitch played out and what the team needed cost Rahul and his team. They fell short by 20 runs despite the effort of Nicholas Pooran (64 n.o off 41 balls) and Rahul. Yes, credit should be given to RR's death bowling, especially Sandeep Sharma.
At the same time, it is hard to ignore Rahul's approach which is too familiar and prone to fail more often than not. It is not what he would want to continue if he wishes to return to the national fold.
Asked how he felt about getting runs on his comeback, Rahul said in a post-match interaction, "When you get runs, you always feel good. But it's important for us to end up on the winning side. That gives more satisfaction." Indeed. And on Sunday, the clear winner was Sanju Samson.