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KL Rahul left for South Africa on Tuesday night, where
he will captain the Indian squad in three One-Day Internationals and play in
two Test matches against the Proteas. Rahul’s career has undergone a dramatic
change as he assumes a larger position as a batsman and wicketkeeper.
Although calling this KL Rahul 2.0 may be overly
optimistic, it is clear that the opener KL Rahul era is about to end. This is
the beginning of a new chapter in Rahul’s cricket career.
It is looking more and more likely that he will take
up wicketkeeping responsibilities in Test matches in addition to handling the
gloves in the three One-Day Internationals. Ishan Kishan deserves a berth in
the 16-man roster, but Rahul, like he has been doing in ODIs for some time, is
expected to be favoured over Ishan for wicketkeeping, according to insider
information.
In the next few months, especially in the two Test
matches against South Africa, the five Test matches against England that
follow, and the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season, a lot will be
watched as Rahul develops into a middle-order batsman. It so happened that he
had opened the innings in the last Test he played, which was in New Delhi
against Australia.
Rahul is anticipated to play in the middle order, even
for the Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League, where he has mostly
opened the innings. The Indian team’s progress is known to a source, who says,
“He wants to evolve himself as a middle-order batsman across formats and
establish himself there.”
Rahul has spent most of his nine-year international
career as an opener (he opened in 44 Tests, 23 ODIs, and 55 T20Is for India).
However, he is allegedly serious about this change and intends to concentrate
entirely on the middle-order role. It makes sense that his recent success in
the ODI format, especially in the Asia Cup and the most recent World Cup, where
he hit an incredible 452 runs in 10 games, has given him more confidence.
While Rahul has been an opener for his teams in the
IPL historically, he has looked into playing middle order for the Lucknow Super
Giants. There have been talks of a possible move to the middle order because
the Lucknow Super Giants feature Quinton de Kock, Kyle Mayers, and new
acquisition Devdutt Padikkal—all of whom are known openers.