HYDERABAD: For the entirety of the morning session on Friday, an English gentleman was immortalising the vast expanse of the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. Next to the dugout reserved for the photographers, the artist with an apron—possibly in his 40s—was using broad strokes to paint the ground.
While he was using the blank white canvas in front of him to paint the greens, KL Rahul was using the green canvas of the ground to compile a masterpiece of his own.
Rahul is one of those batters who will continue to polarise the fan base—he's never far away from attracting the sort of white noise that Indian cricketers are forced to live with—but there's no doubt about his value to the team.
He may no longer figure in the scheme of things in the shortest format (his last match remains the semifinal against England at the World Cup in 2022), but he is an integral part of the team in both the longer formats.
After doubling up as a wicketkeeper in South Africa, the hosts, recognising what he brings to the team as a batter alone, wanted to lighten his burden. Watching Rahul go about his business against inexperienced spinners was in stark contrast to seeing Shubman Gill during a slightly torturous 66-ball 23.
The No. 4 was easy on the eye and had multiple options to either get away from strike or punish 'hit-me-balls (there were several of them)'.
Gill, on the other hand, kept going with hard hands and didn't have enough safe pressure-releasing shots. During their 36-run partnership, Rahul was at ease. Gill was ill at ease.
Here is a case in point.
The 32-year-old, who averages over 42 in these conditions, was able to pierce the gap on the off-side for easy singles. He was also able to cut the spinners—he's genuinely one of the best batters in the world when it comes to essaying this stroke—off the back foot.
Gill, though, was being suffocated. He doesn't seem to have the same option against the slower bowlers. He was feeling that.
After a quiet start to the day (zero of eight balls faced), Gill decided to go downtown off of Joe Root. But he was nowhere near the pitch of the ball and ended up miscuing the lofted slap. Luckily for him, Ben Stokes lost sight of the ball, and it landed 10 metres away from him.
One ball later, Rahul showed his partner how it was done. He got to the pitch of the delivery and hit through the line down the ground. He followed that with another drive in the same region.
Rahul's innings should also be viewed within the context of the state of the game. This was a period of play when the spinners had finally developed some sort of rhythm. Yashasvi Jaiswal had departed in the first over of the morning, and Gill was struggling for fluency.
It can get very asphyxiating for batters to see two spinners landing in the right spots consistently. Even if the tourists did not have that luxury, the Karnataka lad kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Just after the first hour on another sun-kissed day, Rahul had made 43 off the 62 runs. That he was scoring at over four per over meant the tourists had no real control.
All four spinners were inconsistent—long hops, full-tosses, and leg-stump half-volleys came along like they were turkey at Thanksgiving—and he had no problems dispatching most of that.
Soon enough, Gill departed. An uppish drive off Hartley only finding mid-wicket. Even if the management have invested in Gill, the pressure would have increased post-this innings.
Unless they go back on their word and ask Rahul to keep, it looks likely that the current No. 3 may have to make way for Kohli for the third Test.
Post-lunch—cheered on by 25,000 people in the stands, another impressive turnout for a weekday—Rahul cut loose with two big hits off Rehan Ahmed. The second was so short, he pulled it over mid-on.
Just when it looked like he was on the verge of getting only his second ton at home and first since that agonising 199 at Chennai against the same opposition, he got out.
It was another Hartley long-hop—by rights, it should have landed in Secunderabad—but Rahul's arms failed him this time, and he only found deep mid-wicket.
Around the same time, the painter had also taken a break. He returned to complete the canvas in the post-tea session. Rahul, meanwhile, would view his 86 as incomplete, but it has put India in control of the first Test.