KL Rahul lets himself breathe

Time is a beautiful concept in sport. Sometimes you feel you don't have enough of it. And there is too much if you have to face a genius like Shane Warne towards the end of the day and he makes you wait by having a chat with his wicketkeeper. For the 22-year-old KL Rahul, on debut, in MCG's Boxing Day Test, at the biggest stage of them all, it seemed there was no time at all.

"It was all going too fast. Quite honestly I don't know myself what was going in my mind," he said of the three horrible shots he played to get out twice.

If good wishes actually bring good luck, there is no surprise Australia's substitute fielder Pat Cummins threw to the wrong end with Rahul lying on his face in the middle of the pitch with the bat not in his hand. It's no wonder the spidercam distracted Steven Smith when he got under a top edge. Everybody wanted Rahul to succeed. Or at least, stay long enough to play his game even if he has to fail. By the end of day six of Rahul's Test career, hardened cynics had gone "surely he is better than this?", kinder people were like "awww", his IPL coach said he was tougher and more correct and his team director maintained he was one of the best young talents he has seen.

Here was a 22-year-old taking what is now becoming the unorthodox route to Test selection, first-class cricket. Here was a batsman being raved as technically correct by every coach he has played under, and by Rahul Dravid, sharing a name and state side with whom had already brought expectations and pressure. But on his first six days in Test cricket, at the MCG Boxing Day Test and the SCG New Year's Test, he had let the occasion get to him. Two single-figure scores, a sitter dropped, a few misfields and everybody feared if we would even get to watch his normal game.

Rahul had two chances left and everybody hoped he would at least get into his innings. So we could see what his defensive technique is like. So we could see if he cuts as ferociously as the Karnataka batsmen before him. So we could see if he can play time, if he holds the pose when he cover-drives a four, if he reacts when sledged. We hadn't reached that stage in the first six days. We knew it wasn't Rahul playing, it was his nerves telling him there wasn't enough time, telling him people were watching, telling him to hit a boundary, keeping his hands from a giving a little as he attempted a "sitter" at second slip.

"Players told me, 'Give yourself time between the balls and don't forget to breathe.'" Alexi Murdoch said something similar in the song Breathe, followed by, Your life is here. No eleventh-hour reprieve. So don't forget to breathe.

So Rahul didn't forget to breathe. He told himself "the only way from here is up". It helped that he was opening the innings, his natural station, where there is little inactive time for the nerves to build. He said he has batted in the middle order for Karnataka, but here he was relieved he could bat immediately after fielding. It helped, too, that he had taken a difficult catch not long before the Australian innings ended on day two. He had come up smiling from the tumble, possibly the first time he had done so since dropping Chris Rogers fairly early on day one.

The nerves hadn't quite left him when he began to bat, but finally some luck went his way. He played and missed a few times instead of edging. There was a misunderstanding with Rohit Sharma as well. There might not have been a single available, but Rahul had not even backed up. He went up to Rohit, but didn't talk, just patted the pitch and came back.

Soon, he began getting behind the balls. The temperament came through when you compared him with the batsman at the other end, who kept looking for the big shot when tied down. Rahul went 34 balls with just one scoring shot this morning, but didn't look hurried. He had enough time now.

"After I batted last night, I felt the game is [just] a bat-and-ball [game], and I got away with all the nerves I had."

"Last night" there was a significant moment. Rahul was 9 off 34. There was a leg gully in place. Mitchell Starc had troubled Rahul a little with a short ball. This time Josh Hazlewood tried it, but the ball didn't quite get up. Rahul swivelled and pulled, made sure he kept it down, and got his first boundary in Test cricket. You felt this was the moment he felt in, the moment when he began feeling this is "just a bat-and-ball game".

On the next morning, a calmer Rahul arrived. He had some luck going his way, with that run-out and with that meek pull that the spidercam rescued him from. "I wasn't worried about what happened, I could have easily played a wrong shot after the dropped catch," he said. "I am very happy that I could bat through and stuck it out."

Rahul speaks little, slowly and thoughtfully. Now that he had made a hundred, he could look back at his debut with honesty and with a bit of a smile. He thanked his team for showing faith in him for another Test, for telling him what happened to him happens to the best of them, for telling him to not forget to breathe.

He was asked if he was proud of having scored a hundred at such a big stage, and that after the horror debut. Rahul honestly said he was more relieved than proud, especially after how the second Test had begun.

So were those who saw him looking lost, moments after he had dropped Rogers, alone during the drinks break after that and at deep point for the rest of the day. Relieved that he stayed long enough to show us what his actual game, relieved that he didn't forget to breathe.