Shamik Chakrabarty in Ahmedabad
It took 3,211 days. KL Rahul’s previous Test century at home was in 2016, against England in Chennai. Ahmedabad saw him break the home-soil hoodoo.
Motera, now Narendra Modi Stadium, has been the theatre of many Indian milestones — Sunil Gavaskar’s 10,000th Test run, Kapil Dev surpassing Richard Hadlee to become the leading wicket-taker in the longest format and Sachin Tendulkar scoring his first Test double hundred. The venue opened its heart and hearth to Rahul and for the batter, it was special, irrespective of the fact he has another nine Test centuries on the road. That a player of his class had a nine-year century drought in India sounds odd.
Only a handful of spectators were present in the stands to acknowledge the feat. This is a series between the haves and have-nots. No wonder that it has failed to woo the fans during the festive season. From the Indian team’s perspective, however, Rahul continuing with his rich vein of form is excellent news.
For any team, transition is difficult to manage. West Indies never recovered following the departures of the titans in the 1990s. They are now in terminal decline. Australia struggled when the Galacticos hung up their boots towards the latter half of the first decade of this millennium. As India lost two of their giants — Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma — the onus was on Rahul to become the team’s batting spine as a senior member of the side. And how well he has responded!
In England, he scored 532 runs in five Tests, including two centuries and as many half-centuries, at an average of 53.20. He geared up for the series against the West Indies with a match-winning hundred in the second multi-day game against Australia A.
His hundred here was a typical Rahul knock — an excellent example in playing the situations. Even against a side with a bang-average bowling attack (Jayden Seals excluded), Rahul never allowed his ego to get the better of him. He respected the game and was handsomely rewarded. He played 197 balls and stayed there for 288 minutes for his 11th Test hundred.
There is a rough at one end of the pitch outside the right-hander’s leg stump. Khary Pierre and Jomel Warrican, the two left-arm spinners, targeted that area. Rahul played some fine inside-out cover drives. He reverse-swept with precision to upset the line of the bowlers. Yes, luck played a part. In the first over on Day 2, Seals bowled a lovely out-swinger that took the outside edge and went between the ‘keeper and first slip for a four. The first slip was stationed a little wide, not in a conventional position. It was poor captaincy from Roston Chase. Rahul was batting on 57 then, and to his credit, he didn’t allow the hiccup upset his concentration.
He perished in the first over after lunch, caught at cover trying to play another inside-out drive off Warrican. By then, the spot had opened up a bit more and batting against left-arm spin became tougher. By then, though, India were in complete ascendency.
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