mumbai, Nov 27
The contrasting conditions in Australia provide a real test for batsmen from the subcontinent. There’s extra bounce to adjust to while some wickets offer seam movement. Batsmen who get runs there at the start of their careers gain confidence that most things are right in their game. Among the success stories, VVS Laxman was a transformed player after a scintillating 167 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1999; and Virat Kohli hasn’t looked back since getting his first Test hundred at Adelaide in 2012.With a hundred in his second Test, in Australia, KL Rahul couldn’t have had a better start to his career. From the time he played in the under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in 2010, he was marked out as a batsman for the long format. He had the qualities for a Test specialist—strong basics, patience and a game plan based on not playing a false stroke.Two more overseas hundreds in the next four Tests further raised the belief that India had discovered a batsman in the Rahul Dravid mould. Three hundreds in the first six Tests was a dream start.When Australia toured India in 2017, he rattled off six half-centuries in seven innings, even braving a shoulder injury. Two more half-tons followed in Sri Lanka as the Karnataka batsman became indispensable to the side.When he returned to Australia in 2018, surprisingly the record and reputation took a tumble. His highest was 44 in three Tests, falling to incoming balls or trying to feel for the ball outside off-stump, signs of a batsman low on confidence.KL Rahul’s career makes for an intriguing case study. As he gets ready to start a new series in Australia, his Test career is at the crossroads while the one-day career is soaring. Except for a 149 in a lost cause against England at The Oval, he has had nothing to show in Tests in the last two years. At the same time, he has been explosive in Twenty20 and One-day cricket, which means the problem can’t be put down to form.It reflects in his average—34.59 in Tests (36 games) compared to 47.65 in ODIs (32) and 45.66 in T20Is (42). At the end of the 2017 Sri Lanka tour, his Test average was also close to 50 (46.28). From then on, it has been a steady decline.
