At 34, KL Rahul is no spring chicken. He last played T20 Internationals for India three-and-a-half years ago. In the interim, younger batsmen have moved up in the T20 universe. A 15-year-old opener, Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, with a bat swing to die for, has been the flavour of the season. 24-year-old Priyansh Arya, playing for Punjab Kings at the top of the order, has received high praise, and rightly so. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma’s expanding wagon-wheel arch has made life difficult for bowlers. There’s no stopping Sanju Samson in Chennai Super Kings’ canary yellow when he gets going. But none of them has the repertoire of shots to match Rahul, who recorded the highest individual score by an Indian batsman in the IPL on Saturday. Playing against the Punjab Kings, Rahul scored an unbeaten 152 in just 67 balls. With so much being said and written about the current T20 stars, it is easy to overlook how good Rahul, an all-format player till recently, really is. A couple of weeks ago, Rahul had played a solid hand — 92 off 52 — when Delhi Capitals nearly pulled off a chase of 211 against Gujarat Titans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. But at the end of the game, his teammate David Miller refused a single off the penultimate ball, and his failure to take the team over the line became the talking point. On Saturday, in an afternoon start game against Punjab Kings, Rahul’s innings proved that good cricketing shots played with intent to hit boundaries can be as effective as golf-swing slogs and one-dimensional stroke play that the newer generation has taken to. There should be no debate as to which is more pleasing to the eye. When a batsman like Rahul is striking well, there is little that captains and bowlers can do because it’s impossible to set a trap for someone with a near 360-degree hitting arc and no Achilles’ Heel. On flatter wickets in the IPL, even prayers as a last resort won’t work because Rahul can also play unorthodox shots. Purists and new-age T20 fans were both entertained by Rahul’s power, timing and game sense. Also Read | KL Rahul slams highest individual IPL score by an Indian player with 152* vs Punjab Kings Following Saturday’s knock, he became only the third batsman to make a 150-plus score in the IPL after Chris Gayle’s 175 not out and Brendon McCullum, who lit up the inaugural night of the first season with an unbeaten 158. His sixth hundred in the IPL was his fastest, an amazing strike rate of 226.86 as he carried the bat through in the furnace-like heat of the Delhi summer. No type of delivery or bowler put him in trouble of any sort.Story continues below this ad The use of his feet was wonderful to watch. In consecutive balls from leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul stepped down the track with ballerina-like grace to find straight boundaries. Earlier, to a pitched-up leg-break, Rahul got in line with the ball to him to the long-on stands. Rahul also fused textbook cricket shots with unorthodox flair. After starting by driving fast bowler Xavier Bartlett through the point region, he powerfully flicked an away-going ball to the mid-on fence. But so perfect was his shape that there was no risk involved in putting away the ball, angling away from off-stump, to the on-side boundary. The other list of fine strokes: A square drive to Marco Jansen, a flicked four to a yorker-length ball from Arshdeep Singh, a lovely clean hit to a ball angling across, also from Arshdeep, into the stands for a six, a well-timed drive to a fullish wide ball to long off to bring up his century when facing Marko Jansen. If a bowler missed the length, Rahul was brutal. He made the most of three full tosses in a row from fast bowler Vijay Kumar Vyshak. The bouncer and the slower ball posed no trouble to him on a good batting surface. He used the upper cut to dispatch a slower delivery from Arshdeep for a four to cross 150. The only time he looked a touch ungainly was when he attempted a reverse scoop when facing Arshdeep, but the edge also went for a four. But this shot was an aberration in an innings full of strokes that would make old-school coaches proud. “When you try to hit big sixes or when you try to slog, the opposition feels like they are in with a chance. When you are playing proper cricket shots and with merit to the ball, getting boundaries and still being able to score over 200 strike rate, it puts a lot of pressure on them,” Rahul said about Nitish Rana’s 91 off 44. He may well have been talking about his own innings, a classic.
KL Rahul proves textbook cricketing shots can also make impact in IPL
