KL Rahul misses century but does his job well at No.4 in Kohli's absence

On Friday morning, Yashasvi Jaiswal went after Joe Root but failed to meet in the middle of the bat, only to give the off-spinner a return catch in his first over of the inning, which was also the first over of the day. Jaiswal missed by 20 runs a century that was for the taking. Likewise, the third batsman from Mumbai, Shreyas Iyer, who was troubled by pacer Mark Wood with short deliveries and who did well to see off that spell (4-0-19-0), needlessly holed out to deep mid-wicket fielder Tom Hartley, giving leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed his first wicket in his ninth over.

Joining opener Shubman Gill at the fall of Jaiswal in the day’s first over, Rahul was lucky to be dropped by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes off the second ball he faced, Root being the unlucky bowler. The drop did not matter, as umpire Chris Gaffaney did not notice the nick and signalled bye. Even if Foakes held it and with the Kiwi umpire not sensing the edge, England could not have gone for the DRS as they had exhausted all three on Thursday by the 14th over itself.

But for this blemish and another one when Rahul’s inside edge off Wood missed the stumps and raced to the fine-leg boundary, the tall Karnataka batsman made no mistake during his 14th half-century knock. He mixed his running between wickets with sweetly timed boundaries. The short balls were pulled to the ground and not in the air, as is the wont of certain batsmen, because ‘that is the way they play’. He saw off 74 deliveries without scoring and took 36 singles and three twos, besides the eight fours and two sixes in his three hours and eight minutes at the crease.

Rahul cut and swept the leggie Ahmed, lofting him for two sixes in the 57th over of the innings, depositing the second over long-on off a poor short-pitched one to take India ahead of England’s 246. Rahul, who scored a brilliant 101 in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test in Centurion against South Africa last month, was in sight of his second Test century in India.

Out of his eight centuries in his 50-Test career, only one has come in India — his highest Test score of 199 against England in Chennai in December 2016, though against a different bowling line-up. While Rahul surpassed 1,000 Test runs on Indian soil when he touched 77 during his knock on Friday, he fell to a disappointing shot, being another victim of a catch in the deep.

Ahmed returned Hartley the favour, catching Rahul in the same position where the debutant held Iyer, giving the left-arm spinner his second Test wicket. Rahul, who dropped his bat and squatted in utter disappointment at missing his double century seven seasons ago, reacted in a similar fashion today.

After picking two fours off Hartley and driving him along the ground early on in his innings, Rahul played the left-arm spinner watchfully, defending him on most occasions while also picking him for singles in the open spaces on either side of the wicket. However, in going for his third six off a rare short ball from Hartley, Rahul could not clear the mid-wicket boundary but found Ahmed latching on to it. Rahul dropped his bat in dejection and hung his head down at his folly before picking it up and dragging his way to the pavilion.

However, Rahul had done his job, giving India a 42-run lead at the time of his dismissal, leaving it to the mature Ravindra Jadeja, with whom he added 65 for the fifth wicket, and wicketkeeper KS Bharat to build on the platform that Rahul had laid. Jadeja (81 not out) and Bharat extended the lead, raising 68 for the sixth wicket, with the former scoring his 20th fifty and Bharath (41) falling three short of his highest Test score (44 against Australia last year). Jadeja and Axar Patel (35 not out) added another 63 for the unbroken eighth wicket, taking the game further away from England.