Rahul Dravid averaged 29.71 in South Africa; he knows it's a tough place to bat in. Hence, the talk about discipline to the batters before the Centurion match. Openers K.L. Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, both from Karnataka like their coach, took the advice to heart. Rahul added patience, too. At one point, he was 47 off 122 balls. He would end the day unbeaten at 122, making him only the second Indian opener (after Wasim Jaffer) to score a ton in South Africa. “I have surprised myself with how calm I have been,” he said after the day's play.
The hallmark of Rahul's innings was his clarity outside the off stump. Time and again he would tuck his bat behind his pad and leave anything remotely risky. This was no showy leave, a la Steve Smith or Marnus Labuschagne. He did say “No run!” like Marnus a few times, though.
There was no half-hearted prod; he knew where his off stump was, as they say. The right hander had struggled with letting the ball go in that area till a few years ago. He then tweaked his technique. After Rahul's return to the Test team in England this year—he had not played since August 2019—former Indian batsman V.V.S. Laxman had said: “There is a big change as far as his initial movement is concerned. [Earlier] he was moving too much on to the off side; his shuffle was too big. Because of that, he was playing at the balls he is leaving in this series so far. He is much more organised. He is allowing the ball to come close to him instead of going after it.”
It also helped that Kagiso Rabada didn't find his line for a few overs. The inexperience of the South African bowlers showed, too.
But none of that takes away from Rahul's hard work. From being unsure of ever playing a Test again to becoming vice captain in the absence of Rohit Sharma, Rahul had scripted an impressive turnaround. He now has Test tons in Australia, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.
To do this as a three-format batter is no mean feat. Following a successful return to the longest format, Rahul scored 626 runs in the IPL and was India's highest run-getter in the T20 World Cup in the UAE. He missed the home Test series against New Zealand, but has now returned to Tests with a high-impact century. And, he's still batting.
The older Rahul may yet exorcise the ghosts of his South African past, perhaps through his younger namesake.
