Cricket is funny in a lot of ways. One day, you are a villain, and the next day, you become a hero. You can literally do nothing about it. Some days it comes off really well; some days, you strike at 60. Some days you get out early. But it’s a loop—it goes on forever. You never know what is going to hit you until that very moment. What makes a player a legend is how they end up putting it all out there and finish on the right side.
You see, there is a pattern. A circle. A loop. But that’s for normal players—not for KL Rahul. At least not anymore.
When everyone else’s loop revolves around their performances, KL Rahul’s is about his role. He doesn’t even know what his role will be until that particular series. He probably wakes up, finds out he’s in the team, and goes ahead to do the job—whether it’s keeping, opening, batting in the middle order, or finishing. You name it.
And that’s his loop. He keeps going around it every single series and tries to come out on top. He was never this player. He was supposed to be India’s next best opener. He even trained to be that player right from day one. But you can’t say no when the team asks you to do something, right?
When you look at KL Rahul, you see two people. One is the guy who was supposed to break several records at the top, while going big on his way to glory—the guy you don’t often see now. That version of him probably doesn’t exist anymore. Then, there’s this other guy who is just happy to play the second fiddle, keeping things in check. He stays calm in the middle and tries his best to get the team over the line. He makes those top-order guys look good now. He gives them the cushion, taking all the pressure on himself.
At 33, Rahul might not be the best opener we once wanted, but he is probably one of the greatest crisis men you’d see. Openers are plenty—at this point, India has backups for backups of the backup openers. But crisis men don’t come along that often. They die more often than the days they live.
As a crisis man, you fail more than you win. You won’t get those big centuries you always dreamt of, but you get those 20s and 30s. Those runs might make a difference in the total but won’t earn you a headline. Your score might not even feature in the summary.
But that’s the man Rahul has become for this ODI team now. He knows he could’ve been something else if he had gotten more opportunities at the top, but he has made peace with it.
Maybe, in those days, he wasn’t able to finish matches for the team. Today, he is doing it. The Champions Trophy semifinal and final victories might not have been possible without his runs in the middle and the hope that he gave to the top order to go express themselves.
It’s been more than 10 years now. Rahul might still find himself out of the playing eleven tomorrow. It is frustrating as a player, but hey, he is a crisis man, remember?
