His shock and pain was laid bare for all to see. He sat in shock, in a crouch—with his bat lying on the ground and head in hands—and in disbelief at what he had done. Till that 311th ball he faced, K.L. Rahul had done nothing wrong, had not given even one chance to the England bowlers throughout his 281 minutes-long vigil at the crease. Worse, it was not even a wicket taking delivery. He had just reached 199 with a boundary to the fine leg off leg spinner Adil Rashid. The next ball was a typical wide outside the off stump delivery that bowlers send in an effort to delay the inevitable landmark. Yet, here, much to everybody's shock, the Indian opener chased it only for Jos Butler to gather the lobbed shot at point.
“I'm gutted , I missed out. It has been a tough time due to injuries but I am grateful I got a Test hundred on my name,” said Rahul after the day's play, his composure remarkable even as he was honest about how the day had ended in agony for him.
It was somewhat same for the 17,500 odd crowd in Chepauk which had got into celeberation mode before the run was scored. They had waited patiently for a landmark innings from the Indian batsmen and Rahul was ready to serve a double delight. In a moment, however, it was left stunned. In the dressing room, skipper Virat Kohli, all set to celebrate the wonderfull essay, stood still.
As he walked slowly back to the pavillion, the pain of what had happened still too loud to register anything else. “I was just shut off. I couldn't hear what was being said. There were a lot of boys who walked upto me and said something but I was just disappointed. It's hard, it's never easy to get out at 199,” said Rahul.
“It was a good day till I got out. I was looking to play positively, everything was going my way. I was hitting the ball in the middle and the chances that I took came off. Everything was looking good but just unfortunate that the pressure of getting a double hundred got to me; very happy at the end of the day, 199 runs is not easy to get, but missing out on a double hundred obviously hurts,” said Rahul, desperately looking for the silver lining.
It was meant to be a day of celebration for the Karnataka boy. After injury kept playing cruel jokes with him during the England series, getting to his 4th Test hundred was a reason to smile. Getting to a double hundred was more than made up for the frustrations of the previous weeks. At the end of the day and all the hard work, it became about the missed double ton, of how he became the ninth Batsmen in the world to get out at 199 (there were two more instances of batsman scoring 199 but they were not out but were stranded at the other end) and only the second Indian after Mohammed Azharuddin to get out on 199. Azhar's heartbreak happened 30 years ago against Sri Lanka, at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.
“Right now my mind is on missing out the double hundred,” said Rahul when asked whether his mode of dismissal would bother him more. “It will take some time to sink in, it's a big landmark for a batsman.” This would have been his first Test double hundred. He has till now scored four Test hundreds, two of which were in 2016. His last hundred was in Kingston, West Indies where he scored 156. “I was so excited about getting one run, I forgot to take my time. I felt I rushed into my shot.”
The Indian opener, who has made a big impressions in all formats since his Test debut in 2014, has had a tough time of late, suffering repeated injuries. First, it was a hamstring injury after the first Test match against New Zealand and Rajkot Test against England; then a forearm injury forced him to sit out of the Mohali Test against England. The injuries have taken their toll, mentally. “It's obviously tough coming back from injury. I came back after one month and then again missed the third Test, so it plays on your mind. After I missed out the Vizag Test, my mind was thinking more about getting injured again than to focus on batting. When I reached Mumbai, I changed my approach and thought that if I get injured, it doesn't really matter.”
This is Rahul's 5th Test series. Barring the NZ series in India, where he played only the first match, Rahul has scored a hundred in all the remaining series he has featured in. The England series has been some learning experience, the ones he is unlikely to forget for a long time. “I got my first international duck in Vizag and now getting out on 199...so I am going through a lot of emotions in this Test series.”
