KL Rahul's test career is nothing less than a film that starts on a good and promising note but, as usual, didn't get a happy ending. This same thing happened with him in India's tour of Australia for the five-match series of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He made his debut in the Boxing Day Test in 2014; despite that, he was ignored many times and made his comeback again in the recently concluded Test against Australia. He replaced the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma at the top order in the Perth Test, opening with Yashasvi Jaiswal, scoring 77 runs in the second innings, playing a key role in India's historic win of 295 runs.
After Rohit's comeback to the team, Rahul was shifted to the middle order, which, in some way or another, disturbed his focus and rhythm. In the next four matches, his contribution starts decreasing, scoring 84 runs in the third Test in Brisbane. He scored a total of 276 runs in 5 matches at an average of 30.66.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was not pleased with how KL Rahul's series ended against Australia. He said that everyone was talking about him being the best batter at the start of the series. This was the thing that might change his career, but again the failures came, and his career shifted from the right direction.
"I think now we know what KL Rahul is about. We were talking about him being India's best batter at the start of the series. He looked so compact, then got that 80 in Brisbane as well. We thought this might just change his career in the right direction. Then you see the failures again."
Further, he said that India will be going with Rahul when they return to England this year, and the last time he played there was very well.
"I don't see him being left out for England considering that India is still looking for an opener. They don't want to go to (Abhimanyu) Easwaran, and KL Rahul, the last time he was there, played well. So, I see that opening combination continuing, unless Rohit Sharma comes in and throws a spanner in the works."
There are reports going on that in England, during the tour, India will be going through a transitional phase, so it will be interesting to see what this transition brings to Rahul's career.