CHENNAI: 0, 1, 0, 0. This is KL Rahul's scores in the last four T20Is dating back to the Australia tour. A week after India captain Virat Kohli called him the first-choice opener alongside Rohit Sharma, questions are being raised about his place, particularly after the performance of Ishan Kishan in the second T20I against England.
This isn't a new phase for Rahul. He has experienced this before in whites, where after cementing his spot, he has been omitted from the Test squad. And now he finds himself at crossroads in T20s, at a time when he is expected to be the face of India's new approach. Before they opted to move from their caution-first approach, it was Rahul who showed them an alternate way at the top. While his Test form descended, Rahul found the range in limited-overs, allowing him to settle in the middle-order slot in ODIs, and providing firepower at the top in T20Is. Before the England series, only Kohli had scored more runs than Rahul in T20Is for India since the start of 2019. And his strike-rate of 141.52 was the second-best for an Indian behind the skipper.
Then, something changed during the IPL 2020. Leading a side where the batting revolved around him, he chose to be slower at the top, allowing his partner Mayank Agarwal to take charge at the top. Maybe, it was Kings XI Punjab's plan to make him play the anchor role while others play freely around him.
In a season where he walked away with the Orange Cap, there was a drastic reduction in his strike-rate when one compares it with his numbers with India. His strike-rate of 129.34 was the lowest among the top three which was dominated by David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan at number two and three respectively. In fact, there is a pattern of his IPL strike-rate gradually coming down. In 2018, he scored 659 runs at 158.41 and in 2019, 593 runs came at a strike-rate of 135.28.
When batsmen get into a shell, it often prolongs for a long period. In the last series that India played before IPL 2020 in New Zealand, Rahul's blistering starts at the top set the tone for the side to complete 5-0 whitewash. In the three matches so far against England, he has appeared a bit hesitant.
But what works in his favour now is that India are at least openly backing him unlike what happened during his lean patch in whites. “Last one year, KL has been our best batsman in the T20 format. He's averaging more than 40 with a strike-rate of 145. So, three failures do not change the fact that he's, maybe, the best batsman we have in that format, and he's done well for us in the past year. This is the time that, as a team, we need to support him,” batting coach Vikram Rathour said after India's third T20I loss.
Also, Rahul hasn't had enough game time since playing the last T20 in Australia. After staying back with the Test side, a wrist injury sidelined him for a month. Instead of making him play the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s to shrug off the rustiness, the complexities of bubble life made India stick with him for the England Tests, where he warmed the bench.
"They do get a little rusty when they're sitting out. The best we can do is keep providing them practice. They've been having a lot of net sessions and they've been batting in the middle also — net session on the side wickets. That's all they can do and you just hope that (with) one innings, one shot, and he'll be back in form,” Rathour said.
India have previously backed players openly before dropping them from the XI in the next match. Given the value Rahul brings to the team, one would only hope that he gets back into the groove sooner.