Rahul's batting sizzles, keeping fizzles

KL Rahul was beaming after his third successive half-century lifted Royal Challengers Bangalore from their worst Powerplay score this season - 40 for 1 - to 185 for 7. About two hours later, he was disappointed as Royal Challengers lurched to their fifth defeat in seven matches, in part because of one big error Rahul made behind the stumps. The wicketkeeper-batsman's night summed up the cruel nature of T20 cricket.

Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal had Andre Russell five feet down the pitch and beat him with lack of turn in the 14th over of the Kolkata Knight Riders chase. But Rahul was also beaten and the ball snuck away for four byes. He sank to his knees and put his hands on his head. Two balls later, Rahul failed to gather a flat fizzer down the leg side and the ball hurried away for five wides. Russell, whose reprieve came on 13, slapped 39 off 24 balls and went on to claim the Man-of-the-Match award in Knight Riders' five-wicket victory.

The win, which was achieved with five balls to spare, was later termed an "easy" one by Yusuf Pathan, who added 45 in a rapid 96-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Russell. Rahul's lapses had decisively scuppered his team's defence.

"Nothing much to say," Royal Challengers captain Virat Kohli said after the game. "I think we needed to take our chances. Getting to 100 for 4 and then getting it to go away. Couple of chances came our way and guys like Russell will make you pay."

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium surface had offered extra zip and bounce to the seamers. This meant that Rahul was tested with the keeping gloves as well. He leapt and collected bouncers from S Aravind and Varun Aaron before fumbling against the spinners.

Rahul is only a part-time keeper. He has kept wicket in only 14 of 118 domestic games. Kedar Jadhav was Royal Challengers' first-choice keeper at the start of the season but Rahul has been given the responsibility to improve the team's balance. He is still finding his feet.

Rahul, in fact, is still finding his footing as a batsman in T20s. Prior to this season, he had only 653 runs in 39 matches. He began IPL 2016 with slogs and ramps and was even hit on the helmet by Mitchell McClenaghan after losing his shape at the Wankhede. In his second match, against Rising Pune Supergiants, Rahul attempted a wild slog and skewed the ball to third man. He may appear flashy with his man bun, but his batting is geeky, and that is his strength.

He relies on technique, balance, and timing. Chris Gayle, who returned to the Royal Challengers XI, was bounced out for 7 in the second over. Russell and Morne Morkel ran in hard and hit the deck harder. Even Kohli was pinned down. Rahul, who was promoted to the top following fifties against Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers Hyderabad, was under more pressure.

He sussed out the spongy bounce provided by the pitch early and rose on top of it to blunt the fast bowlers. He then used the pace of Russell and Morkel, guiding the ball in the V behind the wicket. Having moved to 11 off 11 balls, Rahul attacked Sunil Narine. The offspinner had lost his bite, having reworked his action. Narine, with a more pronounced side-arm action, looped an overpitched ball outside off, and Rahul eased forward to cream a drive through the covers. The next ball was also too full and Rahul nailed a sweep through backward square leg.

Rahul accelerated by hitting Narine for two more boundaries, in the 11th over, but holed out to sweeper cover in the next over, from Piyush Chawla. Unfortunately for him, he undid his sparkling knock by fluffing the stumping chance against Russell.

Rahul is no stranger to bounce backs, though. He returned from a horror debut in the Boxing Day Test of 2014, in which he managed four runs. He dropped a sitter early in the next Test in Sydney, before scoring a resilient 110 in that match.

How quickly Rahul rebounds from this latest setback could be crucial to Royal Challengers' chances of reviving their campaign.