CHENNAI: YASHASVI Jaiswal, one of the three centurions in the first innings, departed in a hurry on Day Three. Shubman Gill, another of the centurions, was castled early doors on Monday. This sort of amped up the importance of KL Rahul, already the most experienced visiting batter on this tour, even more. If the visitors had visions of a stiff target, the opener was going to be a key man, especially with the clouds hovering in the background.
The overcast and cooler conditions were not making life easy for Indian batters. As Rishabh Pant decided to play in his usual style, the 33-year-old Karnataka batter had an added responsibility of not only lending words of wisdom to his batting partner but also seeing off the first hour and a half to ensure India wouldn't end with a half-baked score.
A couple of deliveries from the England captain Ben Stokes, who had scalped four wickets in the first innings, had already reared up to hit Rahul on his top hand. Brydon Carse was also moving the ball around sharply while Chris Woakes was angling away from wide of the crease. Rahul, however, stayed disciplined.
As he did against England Lions while hitting a ton in the practice match, he played late keeping the bat close to the body, meeting the ball under the eye and not rushing into the stroke. No matter how much effort a batter puts, it's still not easy to survive in English conditions but Rahul managed to hang on.
The innings was definitely not flawless as he got a reprieve when Harry Brook dropped an easy chance at gully off Josh Tongue. The right-hand batter was on 55 then. But again, one needs luck to create history and Rahul deserved it given all the hard work he did on the field.
Rahul was looking good in the first innings as well till he went for an expansive drive off Carse. As the ball found a bit of late movement, he could only edge it with Joe Root positioned at first slip doing the rest. He must have rued the missed chance as only a few minutes were remaining for lunch when he was dismissed. Learning lessons from his mistake, Rahul left almost everything outside the line while covering his off stump until that wide delivery from Carse which he played on. It perhaps was only his third mistake outside the line but it didn't matter in the end.
By then, he, however, had become the first Indian opener to score three Test hundreds in England breaking away from four of his compatriots — Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Merchant, Rahul Dravid and Ravi Shastri — who have two centuries each in the country while opening the innings.
He reached the milestone off 202 balls and his control per cent was very high, with the cover drive alone fetching him 29 runs. The century was Rahul's ninth in the longest format of the game and fifth in SENA countries as an opener. Gavaskar holds the Indian record with eight tons.
Retirement of Rohit Sharma has made the opening slot Rahul's own and it could not have come any better than England where he has opened in nine Tests out of 10 he has played so far.
In the nine matches he has played on English soil as an opener so far, Rahul has scored 776 runs at an average of 43.11, way above his overall average of around 35. All of his hundreds (three) and fifty (one) in the country has come as an opener. It's not only at the Old Blighty where Rahul has shone as an opener as eight out of his overall nine centuries have come while opening the innings. Similarly, 14 out of his 17 Test half-centuries have been hit in the similar role.
Rahul's dismissal at 333 once again triggered a mid-order collapse like the first innings. But the opener's presence for over two sessions ensured the visitors would have a fighting chance of going to Birmingham 1-0 up in the series.
