Lokesh Rahul has recently emerged as a shining star in the Cricket world. In the last year and a half, he has been one of the most awe-inspiring Indian talents to exhibit his brilliant cricketing moves. On Sunday, the opener yet again slammed a terrific ton on the second day of the second Test against West Indies in Jamaica.
The 24-year-old Rahul has scored a century in every overseas series he has played till now. He smashed his first against Australia in 2014 in Sydney, where his total was 110. Then he slammed 108 runs in Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2015 and now he smashed one against West Indies in Jamaica.
Rahul played 182 balls to reach the three-figure mark and he ultimately got out for 158 runs as he misjudged a Shannon Gabriel delivery and gave a catch to the wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich. He was playing smart as he started off patiently and slowly increased the momentum while playing.
Rahul now holds the record for the highest score by an Indian in his maiden innings in West Indies. This record was earlier held by Polly Umrigar, for scoring 130 runs in 1952-53 series.
He has also become the first Indian opener to score a ton in his first Test innings in West Indies and he is the fifth Indian cricketer to score a ton in his maiden Test innings in WI.
On all the three occasion when KL Rahul scored a century he was included in the team as a substitute for injured or off-form players.
Against Australia, he was in the place of out-of-form Cheteshwar Pujara and in Colombo he took the place of an injured Shikhar Dhawan. This time was no different as he was playing in place of Murali Vijay, who suffered a thumb injury.
Other than all these impeccable records, he is also the second Indian player who has converted his first three fifties into centuries. Only Mohammad Azharuddin was the first Indian to do that.
After the end of the second day, he spoke at a press conference and said that he is building the good form and wants to stay focused like he has been in for the last couple of matches.
Rahul said, “I’ve been consistent and that’s what I want to do as a cricketer, to be consistent in all the three formats. I want to play to the best of my abilities and play my roles and responsibilities for the team. Right now I’m in a good space and the focus levels have been great.”
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1 August 2016
Avni S. Singh