“Even a spare tire is not used as much as Rahul,” quipped Navjot Singh Sidhu in his trademark tongue-in-cheek manner during the 2025 Champions Trophy.
In one line he summed up the kind of cricketer KL Rahul has become. A five-in-one solution. Emergency opener. Anchor when the top order collapses. Mid order floater. Keeper. Alternate captain when needed.
Versatility has always been Rahul’s greatest strength. This is also why it is so easy to overlook.
He doesn’t complain. It does not demand clarity. They don’t publicly push back when roles are reversed. He simply does what the team asks, often without fuss or credit. This trait inevitably evokes memories of another hero with the same first name from the same city.
TWO RAHULS TWO FATE
It would not be an exaggeration to say that what Rahul Dravid once represented for Indian cricket, his namesake is now trying to emulate in the modern, far more impatient age.
When KL Rahul bats, the similarities are subtle. Dravid’s drives were defined by significant lift and wrist. Rahul’s bat moves in a smaller, gentler arc. He doesn’t lean as low over the ball. The result is a minimalistic elegance, especially when it drives straight on the ground.
Dravid was of course part of the Fab Four alongside Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. His career was woven into the golden era of Indian Test cricket. While he was often underappreciated in his playing days, history has been kind to him.
Rahul is quietly walking a similar path. Performing without noise. No fuss. Without demanding the spotlight.
It is remarkably easy to take KL Rahul for granted. Indian cricket has been doing exactly that for years.
Discussions around the Indian team tend to revolve around the superstars. The players who dominate the headlines and trends on social media. In this rush, Rahul often slips by unnoticed. He is rarely the main act. But whenever a team needs stability, he’s the one they turn to.
Technically OK. Tactically aware. Willing to take responsibility regardless of role. Opening the bat. Mixing to medium order. Goalkeeping. Party leadership when necessary. Rahul did it all. KL Rahul to expire during Champions Trophy 2025 (PTI Photo)
What he often gets in return is scrutiny bordering on hostility.
His batting pace is shredded. His intent is questioned. His failures are increasing. His achievements are explained as “doing his job”. Trolling is inevitable for any Indian cricketer, but Rahul seems to have more than his share on his shoulders.
It is remarkable how he reacts. Or rather, how not. No angry rebuttals. No cryptic social media posts. No public sulking. He absorbs it all and moves on.
This restraint speaks as much to his temperament as his batting.
LIBRA NOVEMBER 19
Any conversation about guilt inevitably goes back to November 19, 2023.
World Cup Final. Ahmedabad. A night that still stings.
Rahul’s 66 off 107 balls became a symbol of India’s failure. He was criticized, abused and in many cases bullied. He became a villain almost overnight.
What tends to get lost is context. India’s batting collapsed. Goals were falling around him. The conditions were tricky. Rahul decided to hold one end, read the situation and avoid reckless risks.
It would not be unfair to say that he was one of the reasons why India even made a respectable total.
If there is a moment that Rahul would like back, it is not the intention of this innings but the result. He talked about being in two minds against Mitchell Starc. About later wondering if he should have taken on more responsibility with the bat.
It is rarely mentioned that Rahul did not play the slowest of innings in this match. Marnus Labuschagne scored 58 off 110 balls. But the scars from that final needed a face and Rahul became it.
For the next year, every failure reopened that wound.
Speaking to R Ashwin later, Rahul admitted that self-doubt lingers. And earlier this year, he finally broke down in public.
“Sometimes I sit in the dressing room and think, ‘What else can I do?’ Rahul said. “Wherever they asked me to play, I played. And I feel I performed well as Rohit told me.” KL Rahul during the ODI World Cup 2023 final against Australia in Ahmedabad (AP Photo)
INDIAN CRICKET’S CRISIS MAN
We see it repeatedly.
In the first ODI against New Zealand, wickets fell early. Rahul anchored the innings and allowed others to play around him. Some called it slow. It was actually situational awareness.
In the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia, while Virat Kohli held one end, Rahul assumed the role of aggressor. Rahul’s frustration was visible when Kohli fell on a risky shot on the hundred mark.
“I’m still a friend,” he said.
It was a rare, unfiltered moment. And revealing.
In Tests, Manchester’s match against England last August told a similar story. India were 0 for 2. Rahul came in, calmed the chaos and built a crucial partnership with Shubman Gill. Gill went on to a century. Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja later added hundreds. Rahul fell for 90, his contribution quietly absorbed into the scorecard.
However, the numbers cannot be ignored. ODI average 50. India unbeaten in all 13 matches as Rahul stayed till the end. Best ODI average this decade for a batter at No. 4 or below.
What really sets him apart, however, is his temperament. In an era obsessed with strike rates and viral moments, Rahul plays the situation, not the gallery.
Ironically, the versatility worked against him. He has been moved repeatedly in Tests since the tour of South Africa. Dropped out of T20Is. He established himself as a middle-order batsman and keeper in ODIs, a role he mastered to the extent that even Rishabh Pant tried to dislodge him.
No opener available, Rahul opens. A shuffle is needed, Rahul adapts. Middle order crisis, in comes Rahul.
Sunil Gavaskar captured it perfectly when he spoke to India Today.
“He’s a crisis man, just like another Rahul from Karnataka, Rahul Dravid. Whenever there’s trouble, you can count on him. You breathe easy knowing he’ll take care of everything.”
Dinesh Karthik echoed the same sentiment from the perspective of someone who understands the pressure intimately.
“As Indian cricket fans, we take KL Rahul for granted,” said Karthik. “Any format, any position, wherever you want him, he’s there. He does his job and goes about it calmly. If he fails in one game or plays a situation and ends up batting a little bit slower, we’re ready to pounce. Look how often he finishes games at No. 5. It’s not talked about enough.”
WHAT MORE DOES KL RAHUL NEED TO DO?
Rahul’s 11-year career has been chaotic. Always in the scheme of things, rarely sure of his role. He is constantly being shuffled around to fit into the XI. After years of that chaos, he may have finally found peace as a No.5 batsman.
since he consulted with Formula 1-connected specialists to improve his reflexes and reaction time. He worked on slowing down the game mentally. Now you can see the calm. It is up to the team management to maximize this phase.
Batting at No. 5, Rahul hammered an unbeaten 112 under pressure in Rajkot. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli failed. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer followed him. Rahul held the innings together, timing the acceleration perfectly to take India to 284.
KL Rahul turns 34 this year. In those 11 years, he’s been sidelined, moved, dropped and recalled more times than most. He was an opening solution, middle order repair and goal backup. He was everything Indian cricket asked him to be, often at the cost of his own milestones and reputation.
It’s time to stop the blame game. A loss is never the fault of one man, especially not a man who so often rises when others fall. Indian fans need to look at KL Rahul not through the lens of social media trends but through the lens of sacrifice and selflessness.
Give him his due. Give him the respect he deserves. Because when the next collapse comes, and it will, everyone will look to the pavilion again. He was hoping to see the other Rahul leaving.
Quietly. Reliably. Once again for the obvious.
– The end
Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
January 17, 2026