The See-Saw Journey of KL Rahul so far in Indian Cricket Team!

Hello everyone,  

As we all know, KL Rahul is relatively a household name in India. He hails from a small town called Mangaluru in Karnataka. He has made a decent name for himself in Indian Cricket Team. After having a great Ranji Trophy Season in 2013-14, where he scored in excess of thousand runs, he made his India Debut in 2014 in Melbourne vs Australia. Even before he made his test debut, he was quite famous as he shares his name with the great Rahul Dravid and he belongs to the same state i.e; Karnataka. His Test debut was literally a nightmare as he managed to score only 3 and 1. But, what happened in next test in Sydney is quite unbelievable as turned the table around and scored an amazing century against the likes of Starc, Johnson, Hazlewood and Lyon.

Initially, he started as a pure test batter. But, in IPL 2016 he got traded to RCB from SRH. That move totally changed his fortune as he came in as last minute change in playing 11 replacing Mandeep Singh who got injured while practicing. He scored fifty in that match vs Gujarat Lions. After that he went onto make valuable contributions throughout the season to RCB which made it to the finals but narrowly missed out on a trophy. On the same year he got a Call up to Indian Limited Overs team touring Zimbabwe. On his ODI debut, he became the first Indian to score a century on ODI debut, which is an amazing feat. Even, scored a T20I century vs West Indies in USA in the same year. 2016 is one the best years for KL Rahul as he scored centuries in tests also vs West Indies in WI and 199 vs England in Chennai, the same match where Karun Nair created history by becoming only the 2nd Indian to score a Triple Century after Virender Sehwag. Even 2017 started well for him as he managed to score consecutive 50s against Australia in famous Border Gavaskar trophy. During that series he picked up an injury and throughout the series he played with that shoulder injury which got aggravated and eventually led him being ruled out of 2017 IPL and Champions Trophy. He came back in late 2017 against Srilanka and scored a fifty and created history for scoring consecutive fifties. He was turning out to be a beast in T20 cricket as well. In 2018, he had poor outing in the tours of South Africa and England. But in England he managed to score a Century in the Oval Test. 2018 IPL blockbuster season for KL Rahul as he was picked up for hefty price by Kings XI Punjab (Now Punjab Kings). He performed brilliantly for Punjab in that year by scoring 650+ runs. Later in 2018, he struggled against Australia in tests. His form in White ball cricket was never in question as he made it to the Indian 50 over world cup team in 2019, where India lost in the Semis. He was decent in that world cup as he scored 300+ runs and had a hundred against his name. But his Red ball form continued to dip which led to him being dropped in 2019. He continued to  impress in T20I and ODI, even taking the WK role. He was asked to bat in the Middle Order, which turned out to be a master stroke as he plays the role to perfection. He came back to test team in 2021 and scores centuries in England and South Africa. But, his form and strike rate gets decreased in T20I form, which results in horrible outing in both 2021 and 2022 T20 WCs. His inconsistent run in tests eventually leads to his omission. He suffers an injury in 2023, and he takes several months to recover after which he makes his comeback in 2023 Asia Cup where he scored a century against arch rivals Pakistan. He was given a role of WK MO Batsman in 2023 ODI World Cup. In the very first match vs Australia, when India was in trouble, he partnered with Virat and scored a match winning 97*. He even a scored a Hundred vs Netherlands in Bengaluru. He contributed consistently throughout the tournament with both bat and gloves. He had a dream World Cup run till the Finals. But, in Finals when India was in trouble, he tried to anchor the team to a decent total but failed to accelerate when India needed most. So, it became a nightmarish final for both him and Indian Fans. He gets trolled badly for that knock as India lost the Final. Later in that year in South Africa, he scores yet another century in Centurion this time batting in the Middle Order. After that, he failed to score consistently even though he showed glimpses in recently finished 2024-25 BGT series. In T20Is, his comeback is near to impossible as the Indian has some exciting youngsters who are playing fearlessly. ODI is the only format where KL has showed some consistency. Now that he is been named in the 2025 Champions Trophy squad, we will have to see whether KL can redeem himself or not. All I have to say as a KL fan (since 2013 Ranji Days), is that "All the best KL, make the most of your opportunities, will keep supporting you no matter what" ♥️