Just enjoying the phases – KL Rahul on his 2nd Test century at home

KL Rahul has shown a knack of dominance on the road over the recent years, especially in the longest format of the game. However, a century against West Indies in Ahmedabad cemented his dominance in India as well as he racked up his second ton on home soil. An innings that saw Rahul tweaking his stance slightly to deal better with the deliveries drifted was a peak example of how good he can be on his given day.

Talking at the end of day’s play, Rahul highlighted the strategy that he has deployed in recent times, whether it’s at home or on the road, stating, “I think the only thing that I've worked on in the last year or so has been maintaining my batting tempo. Just enjoying the phases that are not as exciting for me in my own head. Obviously when you travel abroad and play seaming swinging conditions with extra bounce, there's a lot of challenge doing that. And when you come back home, when there's 3 spinners playing and the field's spread out, you really need to get your runs with singles.”

He further added, “The boundaries don't come that easily. So yeah, that's something that I've worked on and needed to make that mental switch to enjoy doing that, enjoy grinding and getting 100s with singles and twos as well. So that's something that I've worked on in the last year or so. And yeah, I think that's the only difference that I can see and probably that's what I wasn't doing that well previously when I played at home.”

Rahul concluded with a word about his celebration which did rivet the attention of the fans. He made it even more special with his message, saying, “The celebration was for my daughter.”