Disciplined Rahul begins England tour with century

He committed the first mistake after 273 minutes. Leaning into the ball, but playing away from the body, KL Rahul went swinging at a good-length delivery from England Lions quick George Hill. The ball was seaming away after starting well outside off stump, and the thick outside edge was pouched brilliantly with a reverse cup by Emilio Gay at second slip.

Rahul cursed his ill judgment as his first lapse in concentration brought to an end what was otherwise a carefully crafted century on his first day of the English summer.

After his impressive performances during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, Rahul has been locked in to start as one of India's openers alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal for the Test series in England.

In 2021, Rahul had started the tour with a century in the warm-up match against County Select XI. Although he had scored that century while batting in the middle order, Rahul would end up opening with Rohit Sharma and playing a significant role in India's success across the initial two Tests, including getting his name on the honours board at Lord's, where he won the Player-of-the-Match award for his first-innings century.

Four years on, Rahul has once again started an England tour with a century, this time as an opener. After the early dismissals of Jaiswal and Abhimanyu Easwaran, the onus was on Rahul after Lions captain James Rew had put India A in to bat for the second match in a row. However, unlike in Canterbury, where the ball had to be "smashed in" (in the words of Lions' centurion Tom Haines) to the pitch to get any purchase, the pitch in Northampton was green, offering good carry, and the conditions were overcast.

The Lions fast-bowling pair of Chris Woakes and Josh Tongue shared the new ball after they were added to the squad to test their fitness with an eye on the first Test, starting in Leeds on June 20. While Tongue was wayward in his first spell from the David Capel End, Woakes used the conditions to his advantage. His spell of 6-2-8-2 was incisive, allowing no respite to the batters. He found sharp movement in the air and off the seam as he kept the batters on high alert at all times.

Rahul, though, met discipline with discipline. Playing late, keeping the bat close to the body, meeting the ball under the eye, not rushing into strokes - all these are the nuts and bolts of Rahul the Test batter, home or away, seaming or spinning pitches. The cover drives and pulls were the standout strokes for Rahul, who also played with soft hands to steer, flick and glance to thwart the bowlers.

But there is no respite for a batter in proper English conditions.

After lunch, he had survived a probing spell from Tongue, who rushed Rahul first with a delivery that kicked up. Rahul defended uncomfortably as the inside edge trickled to fine leg. In the same over, Tongue nearly induced an edge from his hanging bat but Rahul had kept his eyes on the ball all the way and survived.

With ten minutes to tea, Rahul charged Lions offspinner Farhan Ahmed, brother of England legspinner Rehan, for the first six of the match. The century soon followed with Rahul upping the scoring tempo as he punched cover and square drives, and stepped back swiftly to play the cut.

Rahul is the most experienced batter in Shubman Gill's India. With the retirements of Rohit and Virat Kohli, he has a big responsibility, not just as part of the leadership group, but also as the batting pivot. The century will no doubt boost his confidence. But as he found out on the day, he needs to make sure there's no lapse in concentration.