India may have lost the T20 series to the Windies in America, but the Bangalore batsman looks to have carved a slot for himself in the shortest format sneakily, but surely
India's Lokesh Rahul plays a shot during the first T20 International in Florida on Saturday. Pic/AP, PTI
KL Rahul came to Florida, saw it but left conquering it. It isn't often that one is excited about a quintessential Test batsman slowly stamping his impact on all three formats of the game, but Rahul has surprised most with his metamorphosis. His ability to convert the fifties into hundreds tells a story some may not be able to read by the cover.
India's Lokesh Rahul plays a shot during the first T20 International in Florida on Saturday. Pic/AP, PTI
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I sense he is a smart batsman who knows that every time he succeeds and someone who has competing with fails, is a tick in his box. The tick is apparently highlighted by the three figures against his name.
Sense of belief
It is evident that the confidence shown by his franchisee captain Virat Kohli gave him the belief that he belonged in the shorter format. His cameos in the Indian Premier League and then the Zimbabwe tour seem to have built a sense of belief in his technique being a strong foundation to his audacity of stroke-making.
India may have lost the T20 series in the USA but Rahul looks to have carved a slot for himself in the shortest format sneakily but surely. Sneakily because while eye balls were on the T20 stalwarts – Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane et al - the street smart player has impacted a near-impossible run-chase with smart batting that originates from a strong old fashioned batting technique.
Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag did the same; created a slot for himself with his run-rates in Test cricket to give his bowlers an opportunity to take 20 wickets. Rahul looks more versatile. He has shown the ridiculousness of a dogged Test batsman to a sublime T20 player.
He looks to be valuing his journey because he has had to fight hard and scratch for a place in every format, needless to say, face a sense of rejection in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
And having gone through the feeling he seems to know very well that every big score (not good score) is another tick in the box of a wodden-spooned batsman who is slowly changing the colour of the spoon to gold by stamping his presence in every format of the game.
Rahul has arrived battling hard and he wiĺl be hard to dislodge even though there may be bigger names in that glamorous list of Indian batsmen.
Shishir Hattangadi is former Mumbai Ranji Trophy captain
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