24 June 2025 : Look at KL Rahul today, and you see an individual at peace with himself. Someone who knows precisely what his role is, what his position is in the larger scheme of things is. Someone who is freed up in the mind and is therefore perfectly primed to make the most of his ability, of which he has plenty.
It hasn’t always been thus. Rahul is hailed as one of the more versatile and adaptable batters of his generation, which has more than occasionally worked against him. Need a batter at No. 6 who will also keep wicket in South Africa because Rishabh Pant is recuperating from the horrific injuries following a road accident? KL Rahul. Need a stop-gap No. 4 because Virat Kohli is away on paternity leave? KL Rahul, of course. Need a filler at the top of the batting order because Rohit Sharma is awaiting the birth of his second child? Who else but KL Rahul?
It’s great to be flexible and multi-skilled, but oftentimes in Rahul’s case, it has come at a huge price. “In the last couple of years, I’ve forgotten what my (batting) position is,” Rahul said on Monday, not long after bringing up his ninth Test hundred on day four of India’s first Test against England. Then, perhaps realising that he might be on the cusp of opening the proverbial Pandora’s Box, he quickly added, “I’m happy to be given different responsibilities and different roles. It makes the game exciting and makes me want to challenge myself and train that much harder and work on my game a little bit more.”
Clarity, calm and command: KL Rahul steps up as India’s Test anchor
Now, as Indian cricket heads into the future with an array of exceptional young talent that must carry the Test batting following the retirements of Rohit and Kohli, Rahul is sure of what is expected of him. To open the innings, which is what he has done most of his adult life and which is happiest and most at home doing. Already, the results of that role-clarity are obvious.
Rahul was India’s most solid batter across the two innings of the first Test at Headingley. Pant understandably attracted most of the plaudits – he will, won’t he, when he slams two hundreds in the same Test, a feat achieved only once before by a wicketkeeper-batter in the 148-year history of Test cricket? – but Pant is a freak, an unstoppable force, a maverick, impossible to emulate or compete with. Pant destroyed and decimated, enthralled and excited. He was the raging inferno. Rahul, by contrast, was all steely ice, unflappable, unflustered, untouched by the vagaries of the pitch, unaffected by the bite in the England attack.
Summary: KL Rahul admitted he’s often unsure of his batting position, rotating across middle and lower order roles, yet remains a dependable, composed batsman—unlike wild-card teammate Rishabh Pant.