Carrying on from where he left against Australia at home, returning opener KL Rahul blazed his way to a half century on the first day of the second Test at Colombo. Rahul, who missed the series opener at Galle due to a fever, was off and running straight away with an array of handsome strokes, thereby reflecting his positive frame of mind.
The home Test series against Australia in February-March had been a fantastic affair for the elegant Indian opener. In that series alone, Rahul had amassed as many as six-half centuries in seven innings, only missing out in the second innings of the Pune Test.
Since the end of that Pune Test, Rahul was in a zone of his own, where he provided India with solid starts. However, he was guilty of not converting it into the three figures mark and that was a bit of a dampener for his supporters.
Nevertheless, he flagged off his tour of Sri Lanka in style with a timely half century and looked utterly fluent. Rahul made a bit of a record while getting to his half century as he became just the third Indian batsman to register six consecutive half centuries.
Previous legends of the game, Rahul Dravid and Gundappa Vishwanath were the first two Indian batsmen to get to the elusive mark of notching up six consecutive half centuries. With the 25-year-old KL Rahul joining them now with his knock of 57 at Colombo, India now have three batsmen with six scores of fifty in as many innings in a succession.
KL Rahul’s consecutive half centuries:
- 57 vs Sri Lanka – Colombo
- 51* vs Australia – Dharamshala
- 60 vs Australia – Dharamshala
- 67 vs Australia – Ranchi
- 51 vs Australia – Bangalore
- 90 vs Australia – Bangalore