KL Rahul: The man for all seasons

Growing up in the city of Bangalore, cricket is a massive part of one’s life. Of course, now that it is the massive sport that it is in the country, I believe that the aforementioned statement is certainly something that can be attested to. Although cricket is a religion in the country, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore has most certainly not lost its undying charm.

While the stadium ranks as perhaps one of the smallest in the world, the keen spectators are the ones who make the place look a whole lot better. In Melbourne, people line up to catch a glimpse of the Sheffield Shield. In Supersport Park, Centurion, people line up to watch the Ram Slam. And finally, in the Chinnaswamy Stadium, people line up to watch the Ranji Trophy.

Historically, if Karnataka can have a day for themselves in the doldrums of Indian domestic cricket, it will most certainly be the 29th of January 2015. January is a wonderful month in the city, something that epitomizes the love for the sport in the city. It was a near perfect day to play cricket. And I use the word near perfect for the odd rain cloud in the sky.

For many who have been one of the perennial attendants of the Karnataka matches in the Ranji Trophy over the years, there was something special about this match. This can quite effectively be regarded as the day that introduced the world to KL Rahul.

On first sight, I and a few punters in the audience did not make much of the openers who graced the holy M Chinnaswamy wicket. Of course, as fans and spectators ourselves, we did indeed want them to do well. But, the issue with some of the older folks seated in and around me were the frail figures of Rahul and his opening partner Ravikumar Samarth.

For me, however, it wasn’t too much of a problem. I had seen both players perform in the Cottonian Shield. They had obviously been a tad better than many others. However, that was not the smartest thought in the world as far as I was concerned. The wiser members were right, it was going to be tough to face a quality Uttar Pradesh attack on a green wicket.

Sure enough, after almost an hour of spot-work by both openers, Praveen Kumar struck. Praveen Kumar at the time was in the heap of the headlines after his contract had been terminated by the BCCI. Yet, that most certainly never stopped him from clearing out the stumps and breaching the defenses of Samarth.

A quick glance at my left, and there was J Arunkumar aka JAK with his head down. His expression may have been one of disgust, but he did so successfully hide the same under his trademark Nike cap. In spite of all of this, I and the elderly gentlemen who flanked me had our eyes thrust on KL Rahul. The 23-year old (at the time) was playing with maturity we had not seen in a long while.

Of course, it was clear that scoring at a high clip had taken over out cricketing souls, so to speak. Yet, although we did indeed give Rahul a lot of flak whilst batting at a relatively slow pace, I’d like to think that we were all very secretly impressed with the way Rahul was batting.

After a few waiting hours on what seemed to be somewhat of a greenish surface, Rahul decided that it was indeed time to cut loose. Praveen Kumar charged in. Rahul looked unflustered. He had made up his mind on what he had to do. Smash! a terrific punch off the front foot to the long-on fence. At this moment, my mind went back to the days I watched Rahul Dravid sway the England pacers Matthew Hoggard and Fred Flintoff to different parts of different stadiums.

The first delivery after lunch and Amit Mishra was smashed into the midwicket fence. Of course, the midwicket fence was barely a few 70 odd yards away from where Rahul stood. At this point, I get a slight feeling in my system – Gosh! What is this guy doing here? Why isn’t he playing for India?

Long story short, Rahul smashed his way to a blistering 337, something that not only put him on the map but also went on to have a wonderful season. Although I am one who has a strict aversion from stats, the youngster went on to smash 1033 runs in the season.

Many people go on to make the age old statement of ‘Be careful what you wish for’. Well, although myself and the elderly gentlemen were clearly blown away it was almost as though we wanted the Indian selectors (a few of whom I believe were present on the day) to hear us. Listen to us. And, obey our cold yet intuitive orders.

Sure enough, a slightly nervous yet Indian team-decked KL Rahul strode out to make his debut against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. An age old philosophy backed up by substantial numbers and evidence has been the massive gap between international and Indian domestic cricket. Many have succumbed to this problem. More recently, the likes of Ranadeb Bose and Manpreet Gony have been the ones to face the pitfall into the ‘Pit of Death’ as they famously call it in the Movie 300.

Rahul strode across gently, a spec on the massive and large expanse of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Although he did not give a good account of himself on debut, the following Test at Perth saw the 24-year old come of age. 110 massive runs to his name and batting in a position that he most certainly fancied was something not many had seen in Indian cricket for a long time.

This, however, was not the whole ordeal. Rahul was far from finished. In the IPL against the Mumbai Indians, Rahul led the charge for the Royal Challengers Bangalore as they took on the Indians at the ground Rahul knew best. In spite of losing Kohli, Gayle, de Villiers, and Watson, the 24-year old ensured that the Challengers did indeed have some runs to play with.

They eventually went on to lose the match but reach the finals of the IPL after that particular knock. Talk about losing the battle and winning the war. So much was Rahul’s impact that things came to a halt in Lauderhill in Florida when the BCCI’s massive marketing stunt saw a massive turnout. Although this would seem somewhat premature, Rahul was the only player in the Indian squad to be available for the Indian team on all tours.

He toured Zimbabwe and played all matches. He went on to play three of the four Tests against the Windies and both T20 internationals. Yet, on the other side of the globe, Steve Smith boarded the early flight to Sydney. As a cricket fan myself, I have massive respect and regard for Steve Smith, but that call certainly took him a notch lower than KL Rahul in my book as far as I am concerned.

Lauderhill in Florida was his stage and KL Rahul went ahead and picked his verse. The Windies had creamed the Indian pacers. No biggie. KL Rahul walked out to face his T20I baptism. Sure, he had played international T20s before. But this was not against Zimbabwe. This was against the West Indies, the World Champions in the shortest format of the game.

It seemed as though he had every shot in the book. He was not grinding his teeth and smashing the ball. Neither did his eyes show anything abnormal or angry about the way he approached his game. He was being the same old classy KL Rahul. The only difference was that he was doing it effortlessly. More importantly, the Windies did not know how to put an end to this onslaught.

A slower delivery from Dwayne Bravo has flicked off his pads to the square-leg fence. Sunil Narine was being swept at will and smashed over deep extra-cover for six. For the 24-year old, it most certainly did not matter that these blokes were the top two T20 bowlers in the world. Of course, he would have admired their cricketing achievements and even respected their seniority in terms of their career. But, on the day, they were the opposition and he was not in a merciful mood.

The Indians might have lost by a solitary run, but that does not matter. He may have the world worst hairdo (although he has chopped it off) which my grandfather does not approve of. But, that does not matter. The way he is playing at the moment, his shots, the potential improvisations, is what concerns the romantics. In a nutshell, he keeps it simple, and that in a way speaks to me.

To conclude, many of us cricket fanatics and thinkers of the sport have had the argument multiple times. We singled out players such as Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane who embrace the challenge head-on and adapt to situations seamlessly. With hard work as their only secret, they almost always come out on top.

Some time back, the ‘World Boss’ Chris Gayle had exclaimed that KL Rahul was one of the people who could give Virat Kohli a run for his money.  The scary part is that he may just be right about it.

“Queen and country safe and sound,

With villains six feet underground.

And no one knows because

No one’s found any trace of a man for all seasons.”

– Robbie Williams