KL Rahul was somewhat of a surprise choice as captain of Kings XI Punjab for Season 13 of the Indian Premier League. The Karnataka batsman didn’t have a great captaincy pedigree at any level, including for his state team. But when the net was cast to find a successor to R Ashwin, captain for the previous two seasons but having moved to Delhi Capitals, the only candidate for new head coach Anil Kumble was his state-mate who shared a first name with Kumble’s illustrious India colleague for a dozen years from 1996 to 2008.
Rahul had briefly led the Indian team on their tour of New Zealand in January-March this year. Virat Kohli sat out the final Twenty20 International in Mount Maunganui, handing over the reins to his deputy Rohit Sharma. Rohit was forced to retire hurt while batting, and could not take the field when India set out to defend 163 for three. Rahul was put in charge of the team on the field, and did an admirable job in handling a relatively inexperienced bowling attack to help fashion a seven-run win and give the visitors a 5-0 sweep of the series.
While Rahul’s first stint as skipper, albeit in a stand-in capacity to a stand-in skipper, was an experience to cherish, things haven’t quite gone his way in the IPL. Until they strung together three sapping victories in a row in the space of a week, Kings XI were languishing at the bottom of the pile with just one win from seven games. They had worked their way towards victory in three of their first six losses, only to allow the match to inexplicably slip away from their grasp. For a young captain, that must have been heart-breaking. For a new skipper who had more than pulled his weight with the bat, it must have been doubly deflating, but somehow, Rahul has managed to remain unaffected, at least outwardly, by these debilitating setbacks.
The captaincy stint might not have gone according to script, even though recent signs and the re-induction of Chris Gayle might suggest a revival, but Rahul the batsman has been in subliminal touch. It’s not just the fact that he has already topped 500 runs that is impressive. Right from the first game, when he made an appetite-whetting 21 against Delhi Capitals, he has batted at a plane significantly superior both technically and aesthetically to all-comers, and that includes such virtuosos as Kohli and Rohit.
Rahul brought up the first century of IPL 2020 without hitting a ball in anger against Royal Challengers Bangalore, one of his former franchises suffering at his hands in the return clash too when he made an unbeaten 61. In his first 10 innings, Rahul had five fifties to go with the hundred, a picture of consistency and composure despite having to often keep wicket and always worry not just about his own batting but also about the fickleness of the group around him.
His great mate and opening partner Mayank Agarwal has been a handy foot-soldier, but while he has slackened off a bit, Rahul has been little short of outstanding. He has emphatically exploded the myth that T20 batting is power-packed, that there is no substitute to hitting the ball as hard as possible. Rahul has caressed the ball to the fence, not bludgeoned it, relying on timing and placement more than brute force and raw power. His runs have come attractively and orthodoxly; like a typical modern-day batsman, he does play the lap and the reverse-scoop, but only from time to time. The bulk of his runs come through cricketing strokes that drive the connoisseurs to the throes of ecstasy. Rahul is somewhere near the top of the list of six-hitters this edition, but again, he has cleared the ropes with an imperious beauty rather than belted the cover off the ball.
There is nothing to beat the minimum-effort, maximum-effect strokes in cricket. It is wonderful to watch the likes of Kieron Pollard and David Warner pulverize the ball, but it’s the Rahuls and the Kohlis and the Rohits who wow us with their easy-on-the-eye and easy-on-the-ball magnificence. In their success lies the vindication of the value of basics. If the basics are strong enough, you can score heavily and freely, no matter what. In Rahul’s blossoming beyond compare, the 20-over format itself has received a new fillip.
