I dont think any other cricketer has adapted to whatever has been thrown at him quite like KL recently. A top-order player who still opens in Tests, has moved into the middle, back to opening, then taken up a middle-order role in ODIs with keeping duties, & now one-ball rule.
KL Rahul Since 2025 in ODI🔥
Strike Rate - 154
Boundaries / per ball - 6
Boundaries % - 49
KL Rahul with Best Strike Rate
Still Some Idoits and jokers trolling KL Rahul for Name and Reach 🤣🤣
ITS TIME FOR T20I CARNIVAL FOR INDIA:
5 T20I vs WI: Oct 6 to Oct 17
5 T20I vs NZ: Oct 22 to Nov 1
10 T20I IN JUST 26 DAYS - Great 3 weeks for T20I fans 😍
Wrote this in October 2024, while KL was getting shuffled across the batting lineup - opener one day, number six the next.
KL Rahul made his international debut in 2014, at Melbourne. In that Test, he batted at number six in the first innings and number three in the second innings. Just a week later, in the next Test match, he was sent to open against Mitchell Starc, Ryan Harris, and Josh Hazlewood. He scored a century.
Three innings, three vastly different challenges. Rahul had basically played striker, midfielder, and defender in his first week with the navy blue India cap.
https://t.co/9KfssDMMrs
129*(87), 10 fours, 6 sixes, SR 148.28. Exceptional knock today by KL.
The metamorphosis of KL Rahul, the ODI player, from being a top order batter to evolving himself into a middle order batter/finisher needs to be studied. For someone who’s been an opener by trade since he was young, to adapt himself to such a tough role deserves a lot of praise. Let’s look at his numbers, they speak for themselves.
His ODI numbers as a whole look elite now:
3541 runs at 51.31, SR 92.38, 9 100s.
Solid career numbers.
But if you dwell further & check his numbers batting from positions 4 to 7, they get even better.
KL at batting positions 4-7 since 2020: 2479 runs at 60.46, 99.55 SR, 6 100s, 14 50s in 59 innings. ELITE.
It gets even better when you narrow it down further. KL’s ODI numbers at 5 are otherworldly:
KL at 5 in ODIs since 2020: 1639 runs at 71.26, SR 103.27, 4 100s, 10 50s in 35 innings.
That’s god damn impressive considering he mostly has to do the consolidation job after early wickets fall or try to up the ante when the platform is set, with fewer overs to bat. He’s done a sensational job of it.
For the talent that he is, KL hasn’t yet been able to realize his full potential in Tests. I wish he gets to do that at least in ODIs. With ~30 more ODIs till the World Cup, I hope he continues his great run to go down as one of the all time great middle order bats in ODIs. Need more sample size for that. 2-3 more years of a good run in ODIs, he can make it possible. Too good a player not to be an international great in at least one format.
Opener in red ball cricket. Finisher in ODI cricket with the new one-ball rule post 35. Can't think of a player succeeding simultaneously in more diverse roles across formats. #KLRahul
Where are those clowns who were saying to drop KL Rahul for likes of Ishan, Pant & Jurel?
He's a beast at number 5, don't ever think of changing his position.
KL RAHUL SMASHED 129*(87) WITH 10 FOURS & 6 SIXES 🥶
- One of the iconic innings, he came to bat in the 25th over and ruled the innings for India, What a knock from Rahul.
80-ball ton for KL Rahul! 💯 😎
They keep asking him to cement a spot in their minds because we watch what we want to and not what actually happens often!
Played KL. We Keep Trying 💪
#CricketonJioStar
The KL Rahul flick for a six has a separate fanbase. Nobody…I repeat nobody plays that shot better than him. Bottom hand taking over without changing the downswing at all. 6️⃣
Incredible.