It ended in heartbreak, but till then, KL Rahul’s 199 was a remarkable display of excellence

There was a roar when KL Rahul reached his fourth Test hundred. It was not from the centurion himself, rather from Virat Kohli who had just joined in at the crease for a brief period.

Later, the skipper would get set in the players’ balcony, ready to applaud Rahul’s maiden double hundred in Test cricket. It did not happen, and the opener was out on 199 off a false stroke. He was heartbroken of course, but the shock and disappointment on Kohli’s face told a bigger story.

A never-ending education

The last time Rahul played a full series, he was still a part member of the Indian team. It was in Sri Lanka last year, wherein he first stood for Murali Vijay, and then Shikhar Dhawan, before partnering Cheteshwar Pujara as the other two were both out injured.

Since then, it can be argued that despite waiting for his chances, he has become the team management’s foremost opening choice, conveniently ahead of Dhawan, and probably even Vijay, on form. It is the reason he walked back straight into the eleven in Visakhapatnam as Gautam Gambhir was left out unceremoniously.

There is certain fragility about Rahul. He missed out in Mohali, one week after making a comeback, albeit that arm injury was endured whilst fielding. But it is not just about his recent record. He went missing on a couple occasions last season as well, and then suffered against New Zealand at home too. The point being that this constant going in and out of the playing eleven is never helpful.

Rahul, though, has learnt to take it in his stride. “I was scared in Vizag that I would get injured and was more concerned about it than my batting perhaps. It affected me, and when I came back in Mumbai, I decided that I wouldn’t let it affect me. If I get injured, I will get injured, but will not think about what is not in my control. It made a lot of difference and I went back to doing what I have done over the last two years – hit the ball to the boundary,” he said, after the day’s play.

For a batsman jousting with internal conflicts then, the pitch here in Chennai was perhaps more conducive for a confidence building measure. In that light, his two sixes in the morning session on this third day were the real highlights of his knock.

Rahul is not your quintessential see-ball-block-ball opener. Nor is he in the Dhawan mould, where lack of application on tough pitches can go for a toss. In fact, he is an amalgamation of the industrious nature of Vijay and the attacking flair of Dhawan. He has most of the shots in his book, and the technique to bat at the forefront of the order. And then there is the confidence instilled in him over the past two seasons by the likes of MS Dhoni and Kohli.

The learning never ends though. He batted immaculately all day, and when India got stuck at 211/3 at one stage, he had to take the senior role given that Karun Nair was at the other end. There was not one false shot in his innings, not until that last delivery, at an untimely hour.

A juicy half-tracker, wide outside off-stump from Adil Rashid was his undoing. A hundred and ninety-nine times out of 200, Rahul will smack that to the boundary with his eyes closed. As it transpired, he had to be content with the lesser of those two numbers.

“I was so excited about getting that one run that I forgot to take my time and just rushed into that shot. Obviously it is more disappointing to get out to a ball like that, and it hurts more when I was batting on 199,” he said, almost groaning at the repeated thought of his dismissal.

Well, there is always next time, and surely there will be one, especially considering the way he is motoring along in his Test career.

Karun keeps his promise

When Nair was at the crease, Star Sports showcased clippings from his epic 328-run knock in the Ranji final against Tamil Nadu from 2014-‘15. His call-up in Sri Lanka last year had come on merit, and since then, it was about waiting for the right time.

It came, when Rohit Sharma was injured ahead of the England series, and Nair was the front-runner for his spot in the eleven. Mohali was a disappointment, in that Kohli ran him out, and then Mumbai became a personal frustration. But scorecards do not remember such notes. They only tell that Nair had scores of 4 and 13 in his two knocks when Sharma went missing.

Nair faced a moment of truth in Chennai then. There was hushed anticipation in the air, for England had sent back Kohli and Pujara cheaply. India were still quite adrift and needed a big partnership to help reach safety. Rahul needed help, even as he held up one end. Nair provided the calm at the other.

Not for one moment, did it appear that this batsman was overcome with the intensity of the situation, with the pressure of scoring in this innings, as it could be his last until the next Test at least. Instead, he smacked Stuart Broad down the ground for a blistering boundary – arguably the shot of the day – and calmed nerves in the dressing room, if there were any.

Together then, the young duo from Karnataka painted a picture of India’s certain future in the longest format of the game. “His family is here watching the game, and I think both our families would be proud watching us together. It was a common dream for both of us when we started playing at age 11. We have done everything together, and I am happy that he has got a half-century. Hopefully he can take us further ahead tomorrow with Vijay,” said the centurion.

Meanwhile, as for the small matter of the heading of this Test, unless something drastic happens in the next two days, it has draw written all over it. Rahul-Nair made sure of that.