India’s promising talent KL Rahul celebrated his birthday on April 18. The wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul who is a newly-found replacement of MS Dhoni in the Indian team to don the gloves. The right-hand batsman has risen as the versatile and flexible batsman who can score runs from any given position.
Rahul does wicketkeeping for his state Karnataka in domestic cricket but has never done it before for India till Rishabh Pant, who was the first choice wicketkeeper, got injured. Pant’s fall allowed Rahul who went on to impress the team management with his capability.
Today(18th April), the Karnatak player would be celebrating his 28th birthday amid the lockdown because of coronavirus. As he celebrates his birthday, we have brought you some facts and records that you should know about the current wicketkeeper-batsman of the Indian team.
KL Rahul: As A Player
Rahul is a hardworking and classical player. Before getting his place back in the team, he was pointed out for his degrading form in the Test cricket. The Test opener drastically failed to score runs in the red-ball cricket in the home series. So, he was replaced by Rohit Sharma.
Well, the 28-year-old cricketer went back and toiled hard in domestic cricket. With his Karnataka team, he won the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy 2019-20. He got a recall in the team after Shikhar Dhawan got injured during the home series. He capitalized on the opportunity and now has gained a permanent place in the team.
Having made the debut in 2014 in Test format, So far, Rahul has played 36 Tests and scored 2006 runs, including five centuries and 11 half-centuries. In 2016, he made the debut in the white-ball cricket against Zimbabwe. As if now, he has played 32 ODIs and 42 T20Is and scored 1239 and 1461 runs respectively.
KL Rahul: What Is He Up to Now
Rahul first time donned the glove in the T20I series against New Zealand at their home. In the T20I series, he batted as an opener while in the ODI series, he was given the job of a finisher. In both the series, he played brilliantly and scored runs from every knock and corner of the ground. He was the highest scorer in the T20I series.
Thus, Rahul is rising as a crucial player for Indian in white-ball cricket. He is still to gain his place back in the red-ball cricket. For which, he will be looking to play more domestic tournaments.
KL Rahul: A Look At His Lesser Known Facts
KL Rahul is only the third Indian to score a century across formats. Rahul is Karnataka’s first triple-centurion, who scored 337 against Uttar Pradesh. He is also the first Indian opener to score a century in his debut Test in the West Indies. He smashed a century against West Indies of just 46 balls.
He also set the world record for being the only player to score a hundred in the first innings as an opener in both Tests, and ODIs. Rahul set the record for the fastest batsman to have scored centuries in all three formats in just 20 innings surpassing the record of Ahmed Shehzad who took 76 innings. He is the first player in T20I history to score a century when batting at number 4 position or lower. He is also the first Indian batsman to be dismissed hit-wicket in T20Is.