New Delhi: For the longest time, KL RahulA T20 career is like a man dragging a heavy suitcase. The perennial anxiety of a stuffed strike rate, the exhausting demands of deep batting, and the archaic, burdensome tag of being an “anchor”. On Saturday, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Rahul put the suitcase aside. This was followed by a masterclass in calculated authority. Opening the innings for Delhi Capitals against Punjab Kings, Rahul batted in all 20 overs, scoring an unbeaten 152 off 67 balls. It was Rahul who was completely unencumbered, accessing all parts of the ground not with reckless abandon but with aggressive clarity. Adding more than 150, he etched his name into the annals of the format, registering the highest individual T20 score by an Indian and the third highest in IPL history, behind only Chris Gayle (175*) and Brendon McCullum (158*). It was not an overnight metamorphosis. It was a conscious, difficult shedding of old habits. “I was very happy at the end of the first 20 overs,” Rahul said. “It’s something I’ve been working on behind the scenes for a very long time.” The realization that the T20 format had changed while he was playing classical notes hit him hard. The game had moved on and Rahul knew he had to catch the train. “For now, it’s about doing well in the IPL. Just step back and see where the T20 game has gone. There was a time when the T20 game was a bit different, and I could take my time as an opener. But the demand today is that the first six overs are the most important. The powerplay is to get maximum runs and put the bowling team under pressure,” said Rahul. The change required retraining his muscle memory and his brain, completely eschewing the “we’ll make it up later” philosophy. “I had to sit back and see where I was,” Rahul said. “In T20 cricket, the mindset I’m in right now is that there’s no time to say later. In ODI cricket, there’s time, but in T20 there’s no time to think you can go into the next over. I’ve had to work really hard on my mental set-up.” Importantly, Rahul did not abandon his “aesthetic” style. He did not resort to ugly hoaxes to bump his strike rate. “I stick to staying true to my game, which is to play cricket shots but also find a way to be aggressive and play the right shots,” he said. Therefore, the focus was firmly on initial aggression. “I’ve talked about hitting sixes and that’s something I’ve really had to work on and give myself that freedom to go out there and fight ball one, ball two,” he said. Even in a bitter context, the magnitude of Rahul’s evolution was not lost on the dressing room. Delhi Capitals director of cricket Venugopal Rao summed up the memorable effort and said, “In this format, you can’t relax, he took charge as a senior player, and you see the difference this year he can bring. I’m happy for him, we didn’t win, but the way he played till the last over, that’s great.””
