When India toured England recently, Shubman Gill took over the Test captaincy, and KL Rahul publicly admitted he was glad to be free of leadership responsibilities, preferring to focus solely on his batting. Yet fate had other plans. After a bruising Test series against South Africa, Rahul suddenly finds himself captaining India in ODIs once again, an unexpected turn he learned about only a day before the squad announcement.
“I enjoy responsibility when it comes,” Rahul said. “I don’t overthink it. With senior guys like Rohit, Virat and Jaddu around, there’s always support. The call came a day before the team was named, so I had to be ready.”
Despite being the most seasoned batter in India’s Test XI, Rahul endured a disappointing series, one that exposed not only technical lapses but also a mental tussle with his own instincts. In white-ball cricket, Rahul is known for confidently stepping out to spinners, lofting them straight or whipping them over midwicket.
Rahul asking more from him in Tests
But in the Tests against South Africa, that trademark footwork vanished. Instead, he stayed rooted in the crease, reaching forward tentatively, an approach that proved costly, especially in his second-innings dismissal in Guwahati, when a large off-break from Simon Harmer breached the gap between bat and pad.
Was it hesitation? Fear of missing the ball? Rahul insisted otherwise. “It was the last few overs of the day. In Tests, stepping out isn’t always the right option. I don’t regret that. Defending felt right at that moment, though I didn’t execute well,” he explained.
‘We can learn from Mr. Gavaskar’
The broader issue goes beyond Rahul alone. The Indian lineup rarely uses the old-school method of advancing to smother spinners, something previous generations mastered. Unlike Cheteshwar Pujara or even Sunil Gavaskar’s era, today’s batters tend to either defend from the crease or attack with big swings, missing the subtle footwork that neutralises turn without necessarily seeking boundaries.
Rahul acknowledged this lost craft. “We’re trying to get better at playing spin. There are things we can learn from Mr Gavaskar,” he said. “It won’t change overnight, but each of us is searching for answers.”
Interestingly, moments after making that confession, Rahul stepped into the nets, and danced down the track to launch the spinner over the ropes, as if reminding himself of the option he had shelved during the Test series.
