The KL Rahul Conundrum: Once A Poster Boy, Now In Forced Wilderness Thanks To The Indian Think-Tank

Three years ago, KL Rahul was on top of the world. He was painting the field with his sumptuous and, and at times, belligerent stroke play in white-ball cricket; he had played a stellar role in India thumping the all-conquering Eoin Morgan’s England team in the T20 series on the latter’s own turf; he had had a brilliant last 13-14 months- South African tour notwithstanding- as an opener in Test cricket; he had even joined the 199 Club besides joining an elite list consisting of batters with 7 consecutive half-centuries in the format.

He literally couldn’t do anything wrong.

Such was the impact of Rahul’s artistry with the bat that people including notable pundits had even started comparing him with the past greats; a certain journalist went as far as comparing him with Sir Vivian Richards.

I know you’d have cracked up reading the last sentence but, to be honest, such is Rahul’s talent that when on song, he can sweep anyone off their feet and make them bow down to his artistry.

Everything was going really well until that ill-fated Test series against England started. Opening the innings in England against the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes with the dukes in their hands is probably the thought examination a batter can face in this day and age.

And, KL Rahul found that out the hard way as he kept nicking off or getting bowled throughout the series. He did stage his redemption with a sumptuous 149 in the final innings on albeit a flat Oval surface but that knock- as we would find out over the next few months- would merely pepper over the glaring cracks in his Test match batting.

Long story short, Rahul’s confidence started nose-diving with every failure he endured during the 2018-19 Test season and by the time he was eventually dropped in Australia, the artist had been reduced to a walking wicket.

To make matters worse, Rahul got embroiled in an off-field controversy after Hardik Pandya and he got carried away during their visit on a chat show.

He and Pandya were blasted on social media for their comments; hell, one former cricketer even said that he would be reluctant to visit with his family in the same vehicle with the duo.

To sum up the 360-degree turn swing in Rahul’s fortunes, the same journalist who was comparing him with Sir Viv six months ago was now shredding him on live TV.

That’s the reality of life, isn’t it?

Anyways, both Hardik and KL Rahul were handed a brief suspension post which they were reintegrated in the set-up.

Unlike his struggles against the red Dukes in England, Rahul thrived against the white kookaburra during the 2019 World Cup. He initially started as a middle-order batter but Shikhar Dhawan’s unfortunate injury led to him being promoted to his favored position.

Rahul did decently well at the World Cup and for a moment one thought that perhaps he will carry that confidence to Test cricket.

But, similar issues plagued him in the Caribbean, and has was dumped for good from the longest format of the game.

Rahul is yet to add a Test cap since then although he has been traveling with the bat in the past 8 months.

Which brings us to the question: Are India messing up with KL Rahul?

Why do I ask that question? Well! A glance at India’s squads for the England Test tour and Sri Lankan white-ball assignment will give you a fair idea of where I am coming from.

After Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul is arguably India’s best white-ball batsman across both formats. Barring the last T20I series against England, the dashing batter has been a consistent run-scoring juggernaut in both ODI and T20Is in the past 18-24 months. So, wouldn’t it have been better if Rahul had traveled to Sri Lanka instead of England for the white-ball series to prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup instead of warming the bench or serving drinks in the UK?

And, there are good reasons why I ask this question.

• The Indian management has made it clear that they are looking at KL as a middle-order option. So, unless they ‘rest’ both Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul cannot play in the middle-order because even if some of Pujara or Rahane are dropped or rested, it will be Hanuma Vihari who will replace him because he is well ahead in the pegging order.
• KL Rahul hasn’t played competitive cricket since late April. If he ends up warming the bench for the entire Test summer in England (which is very very likely) then by the time he marks his guard in Punjab Kings colors in mid-September, he would have gone a good 4.5 months without playing a single competitive game.
• We saw the impact of lack of game time for an extended period of time in KL Rahul when he played against England in the T20I series earlier this year after having warmed the bench during the Test series in Australia and then against the Joe Root-led unit.

From being one of the hottest properties in Indian cricket to becoming a second backup middle-order batter in Test cricket who doesn’t know when his next international outing will come, Rahul has come a full circle between England 2018-England 2021.

Will he once again peak and finally fulfill his enormous potential? Well, for that to happen, he needs to play regularly. The team management needs to understand that as of now, Rahul- the white-ball batter- is far more crucial and valuable than Rahul- the backup of a backup middle-order batter in Tests. Clearly, they don’t understand that right now because if they did, then the Karnataka player would have been sweating it out in Sri Lanka rather than serving drinks or enjoying a vacation in the UK.