Can KL Rahul turn his career around like Rohit Sharma?
The Test series between India and the Windies are over, and the result isn't surprising. India continue their dominance at home, while the Windies have multiple issues to solve.
The biggest takeaway from this series is that India continue to churn out young prodigies in all three departments of the game.
It was not all rainbows and flowers for the hosts, though. They came into this series after a disappointing campaign against England, with multiple issues to sort out, especially on the batting front.
Most importantly, they needed a fresh pair of openers to give them substantial starts. After removing both Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan from the squad, the hosts had KL Rahul in line to take the opening spot indisputably.
After all, he redeemed himself in the last innings against England, notching up a sensational century that almost titled the match in India's favour. To go with that, his form in Indian Premier League 2018 made many heads turn.
Rahul gives an aura of the new age Indian cricketer. He can score audacious boundaries at will, almost pull off victories single-handedly; he can take not just diving catches, but sharp takes in the slip cordon as well.
He can even do the Dele Alli challenge!
But all is not well currently for the confident Indian opener. He struggled for form in the England series, apart from that one last innings. He looked timid even in the familiar home conditions, even when the batsman who opened with him, Prithvi Shaw, went on to make a stupendous century on debut.
The team management decided to give Rahul a long rope looking at his immense potential, which is a massive show of faith in him, considering the rotation policy they have implemented for almost everyone else in the squad.
Giving promising batsmen a longer rope proves to be fruitful in the years to come – Even the great Sachin Tendulkar took five years after his debut to reach his first ODI century. Ultimately the Master Blaster went on to accumulate as many as 51 ODI centuries.
Another recent example of the same would be Rohit Sharma. He was an immense talent who was touted to be the next thing in Indian cricket. However, for quite an extended period of time, the man from Mumbai confounded everyone with his mediocre performances.
There was a time when people considered Sharma to be another one of the talents that would never come to fruition.
However, the right-hander has transformed into a remarkably consistent batsman now. He has been a prolific run-scorer since MS Dhoni promoted him to open the batting in 2013.
Rahul certainly does not lack talent and should try to get in the right frame of mind ahead of the upcoming ODI and T20 series against Windies. He has some promising templates to look up to, despite his poor returns with the bat recently. He has the talent and the temperament to survive and thrive at the international level – it is time he gets the support to grow into it!