KL Rahul (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI: For the longest time, KL Rahul’s T20 career resembled a man lugging a heavy suitcase. Stuffed inside were the eternal strike-rate anxieties, grueling batting demands and the archaic, heavy label of being an ‘anchor’. At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, Rahul simply put down his suitcase. What followed was a master class in calculated authority. Opening the innings for Delhi Capitals against Punjab Kings, Rahul bowled all 20 overs and remained unbeaten on a stunning 152 off 67 balls. It was Rahul completely unencumbered, approaching all parts of the country not with reckless abandon but with aggressive clarity. When he crossed the 150 mark, he etched his name into the annals of the format, recording the highest individual T20 score by an Indian and the third highest in IPL history behind only Chris Gayle (175*) and Brendon McCullum (158*). It wasn’t an overnight metamorphosis; it was a conscious, effortful shedding of old habits. “At the end of the first 20 overs, I was very happy,” said Rahul. “It’s something I’ve been working on behind the scenes for a very long time. The realization that the T20 format had mutated while playing classical notes hit him hard. The game moved on and Rahul knew he had to catch the train. “For now, it’s about doing well in the IPL. We’ll just step back a bit and see where the T20 game has gone. There was a time when the T20 game was a bit different and I took my time as an opener. But the requirement today is that the first six overs are the most important. Powerplay is about getting as many runs as possible and putting the bowling team under pressure,” Rahul said. The transformation required reprogramming his muscle memory and mind, completely eschewing the “figure it out later” philosophy. “I had to sit back and see where I was,” Rahul said. “In T20 cricket now, I’m like, there’s no time to say later. In ODI cricket, there’s time, but in T20 there’s no time to think you can move on. I’ve had to work really hard on my mental set-up.” Significantly, Rahul did not abandon his “aesthetic” vibe. He didn’t resort to nasty hoicks to increase his strike rate. “I stayed true to my game, which is to play cricket shots but also find a way to be aggressive and play the right shots,” he said. The emphasis was therefore firmly placed on early aggression. “I was talking about six strikes and that’s something I’ve had to really work on and give myself that freedom to go out and bowl from ball one, ball two,” he said. Even in the bittersweet context, the magnitude of Rahul’s development was not lost on the dressing room. Summing up the monumental effort, Delhi Capitals Director of Cricket Venugopal Rao said, “You can’t relax in this format. He took responsibility as a senior player and this year you can see the difference he can bring. I’m happy for him. We couldn’t win but the way he played till the end, hats off.”
