Indian batsman KL Rahul has joined an elite club that includes the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and many other legends. Rahul achieved this great feat during the first Test between India and Bangladesh in Chennai.
During the second innings of the Chennai Test, Rahul completed 8000 runs in international cricket. Rahul became the latest to enter the 8000 international runs club for India and became the 17th Indian batsman to achieve the feat.
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KL Rahul completes 8000 runs in international cricket
KL Rahul completed 8000 runs in international cricket. 🌟
-One of the best of this generation. image.twitter.com/hvnAb1AnUR
— Johns (@CricCrazyJohns) September 21, 2024
Rahul reached the milestone with a four off part-time left-hander Mominul Haque. It was an arm ball from Mominul, but it was too short and Rahul swung back to drive it wide of the centre fielder.
KL Rahul’s performance in the Chennai Test
The 32-year-old scored an unbeaten 22 off just 19 balls with 4 fours in the second innings as Rohit Sharma announced India’s declaration at 287-4. While Rahul remained unbeaten on 22, Shubman Gill scored an unbeaten 119 off 176 balls. Gill hit 10 fours and 4 sixes during his innings.
Though Rahul achieved this feat, he did not have much to do in the match. In the first innings, he was dismissed for 16 by off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz when Zakir Hasan took a brilliant catch at short leg.
Interestingly, Rahul’s best score in a Test also came at the same ground. He scored 199 against England at Chepauk in 2016, when India defeated England by an innings and 75 runs.
Rahul started his Test career as an opener, however, the team management is now considering him as a middle-order batsman in Test cricket. He started batting in the middle order in India’s home Test series against England earlier this year.
Rahul played the first Test match of the series and scored 87 in the first innings before he got injured and was ruled out of the series. The ongoing Chennai Test match is his first Test match since then. He has batted at No. 6 in this match below Rishabh Pant.
Before this series, KL Rahul was in a tussle with Sarfaraz Khan for the sole midfielder spot. However, the team management was confident that Rahul would be the first to get the spot.
KL Rahul in white ball cricket
Apart from playing over 50 Test matches, KL Rahul has also played 72 T20Is and 77 ODIs for India. He has scored 2265 runs in T20Is at an average of 37.75 and a strike rate of 139.12 with 2 hundreds and 22 fifties.
In ODIs, he has scored 2851 runs so far at an average of 49.15 and a strike rate of 87.56 with 7 hundreds and 18 fifties. Rahul started his ODI career as an opener as well but moved to the middle-order position and later took over the position with some fabulous performances.