NEW DELHI: KL Rahul once again opened the batting for India and looked really solid with his 64-ball 37 but lost his wicket late in the first session on the opening day of the day-night Test against Australia in Adelaide on Friday.
Rahul took advantage of his luck and managed to escape a couple of times in the first innings, including a dramatic no-ball delivery, but the top-order batter showed nerves of steel against the new ball and a top-notch Australian bowling attack that made the ball do the talking brought.
Rahul rejected a moving pink cherry and largely avoided outside deliveries but ultimately failed to do the same.
When paceman Mitchell Starc hit another rise, Rahul couldn’t clear his bat in time and was caught in the gully by Nathan McSweeney in the 19th over of the innings.
Since Rahul was released in the late 30s, he failed to capitalize on an assured start, something the 32-year-old has done a number of times throughout his Test career.
During his test, he fought for the team’s cause in various positions. In a total of 54 Tests that Rahul has played, he has opened the bat in 46 matches (1 and 2). Of the 78 innings in 46 Tests as an opener, Rahul scored less than 40 runs 55 times – 20 runs or less 40 times.
On 15 occasions, Rahul got the go-ahead and went past the 20-run mark, but was dismissed below the 40-run mark.
In the games where Rahul was dismissed between 20 and 40 runs, he was a vigilant starter and has 592 dot balls to his name and a dot ball percentage of 74.2.
Rahul played the new ball the way it was meant to be played and was able to clear it really well, but lapses in concentration led to him being dismissed even after getting through the difficult early stages.
In the first innings of the Adelaide Test too, Rahul played a total of 64 balls and left most of them outside the off-stump channel but eventually fell while trying to do the same against Starc. Even when he was playing at number 3 or below, Rahul had the problem of not making it big after putting his eyes in it.

In the 16 innings in which he played at number 3 or below, Rahul was dismissed for under 40 12 times, with his score being under 20 on 10 occasions. In the 20-40 run range, Rahul was dismissed twice
Overall, Rahul averages 34.26 in 54 Tests and has 3,084 runs to his name with 8 centuries and 16 fifties. There have been some brilliant starts in his career, but the sub-35 average means not many of them have been converted into major successes.