Chennai: “Watching KL Rahul bat is like sitting and watching paint dry on a wall,” Kevin Pietersen had once tweeted. And when Rahul cheekily brought up that old tweet after winning the Man of the Match award against Chennai Super Kings on Saturday, KP — now his team’s mentor — laughed: “Did I say that? Well, I’m glad you’ve changed your game.”
Promoted at the eleventh hour to open after Faf du Plessis was ruled out due to an injury, adaptable craftsman KL Rahul produced a knock (77, 51b; 6x4, 3x6) of quiet finesse that became the centrepiece in Delhi Capitals ’ win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
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“Just at about 11 o’clock this morning when we found out that Faf would be doubtful, I had a chat with him saying, ‘KL, this is an option we’re looking at. How open are you?’ (Pat came the reply): ‘Happy, coach. I’m happy to go up the order.’ So it was as seamless as that,” said Delhi head coach Hemang Badani .
Rahul doesn’t seem to have a permanent slot in the batting line-up, either for India or for his franchise. The issue came up for discussion and Badani was adamant that it’s the right-hander’s ability to adapt that makes him such a flexible cricketer. “He’s somebody who’s been around long enough to understand the need of the hour. He has opened for India, he’s batted at four-five in the recently concluded Champions Trophy. And, he’s somebody who can play spin and pace well. I don’t think it’s difficult for someone of his calibre. If I had to make someone else do it, then it wouldn’t have been easy. But I think he has got the calibre, mindset and understanding of the game to go up the order par or bat at No. 4,” explained Badani.
Opening is familiar ground for Rahul. It’s also where he’s faced the sharpest scrutiny for anchoring too much, for not keeping pace with the game. But there’s been a shift. At 32, Rahul seems determined to step out of the old template.
“I worked really hard on my white-ball game in the last year or so. Big shout to Abhishek Nayar (current India assistant coach). I worked a lot with him, ever since he’s come into the Indian team. We spend hours and hours together talking about my white-ball game and how I can be better,” said Rahul, who last played a T20 international way back in 2022.
Rahul also revealed that he has realised that T20 cricket has changed a lot and now he wants to just enjoy hitting boundaries. “I think somewhere I found the fun playing white-ball cricket, I think somewhere along the way I lost that fun of hitting boundaries and hitting sixes. I wanted to take the game ‘deep, deep, deep’ and that somehow stuck in my head. So back to enjoying my cricket. Just see the ball and try to be aggressive.”
From “paint dry” to powerplay disruptor, Rahul, who is now also embracing fatherhood, played with intent, fluency and adaptability against CSK. His strike rate? A healthy 150. This wasn’t Rahul rebranding himself. It was more like the beginning of a new KL Rahul in T20 cricket.
Promoted at the eleventh hour to open after Faf du Plessis was ruled out due to an injury, adaptable craftsman KL Rahul produced a knock (77, 51b; 6x4, 3x6) of quiet finesse that became the centrepiece in Delhi Capitals ’ win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
“Just at about 11 o’clock this morning when we found out that Faf would be doubtful, I had a chat with him saying, ‘KL, this is an option we’re looking at. How open are you?’ (Pat came the reply): ‘Happy, coach. I’m happy to go up the order.’ So it was as seamless as that,” said Delhi head coach Hemang Badani .
Rahul doesn’t seem to have a permanent slot in the batting line-up, either for India or for his franchise. The issue came up for discussion and Badani was adamant that it’s the right-hander’s ability to adapt that makes him such a flexible cricketer. “He’s somebody who’s been around long enough to understand the need of the hour. He has opened for India, he’s batted at four-five in the recently concluded Champions Trophy. And, he’s somebody who can play spin and pace well. I don’t think it’s difficult for someone of his calibre. If I had to make someone else do it, then it wouldn’t have been easy. But I think he has got the calibre, mindset and understanding of the game to go up the order par or bat at No. 4,” explained Badani.
Opening is familiar ground for Rahul. It’s also where he’s faced the sharpest scrutiny for anchoring too much, for not keeping pace with the game. But there’s been a shift. At 32, Rahul seems determined to step out of the old template.
“I worked really hard on my white-ball game in the last year or so. Big shout to Abhishek Nayar (current India assistant coach). I worked a lot with him, ever since he’s come into the Indian team. We spend hours and hours together talking about my white-ball game and how I can be better,” said Rahul, who last played a T20 international way back in 2022.
Rahul also revealed that he has realised that T20 cricket has changed a lot and now he wants to just enjoy hitting boundaries. “I think somewhere I found the fun playing white-ball cricket, I think somewhere along the way I lost that fun of hitting boundaries and hitting sixes. I wanted to take the game ‘deep, deep, deep’ and that somehow stuck in my head. So back to enjoying my cricket. Just see the ball and try to be aggressive.”
From “paint dry” to powerplay disruptor, Rahul, who is now also embracing fatherhood, played with intent, fluency and adaptability against CSK. His strike rate? A healthy 150. This wasn’t Rahul rebranding himself. It was more like the beginning of a new KL Rahul in T20 cricket.
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