While Indian captain Shubman Gill finished with a total of 754 runs with an average of 75.40 in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy and being the highest run scorer in the series, KL Rahul too had a memorable series. The 33-year-old scored 532 runs at an average of 53.20 including two centuries and two half-centuries in five Test matches in the series and was one of the pillars of Indian batting in the series. Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali has termed Rahul as ‘one of the best players in the world’.
“I think people don’t realise how good I mean someone like KL Rahul in particular in opening the batting. He was brilliant last series as well in England and he is brilliant again this series. I actually think Shubman scored the most runs and was outstanding and like brilliant technique but I thought KL’s role within the side was probably the best I have seen him play over the years. He is such a good player and I genuinely believe that he’s one of the best players in the world, and I have said that for a while. Like, sometimes I just feel like he doesn’t take the handbrake off, like, just free up a bit more, but generally I would say he’s one of the best players in the world,” Moeen Ali said on the Beard Before Wicket podcast on Youtube.
Rahul, who had scored 205 runs in his last Test series in England, smashed his ninth Test hundred in the opening Test at Leeds before he scored his tenth test hundred in the third Test at Lords. The Lord’s hundred also meant that Rahul became the first Indian opener and overall second batsman after Dilip Vengsarkar to score multiple Test centuries at Lord’s. While Vengsarkar had scored three Test hundreds at Lord’s, Rahul had scored his first Test hundred at Lords in 2021. Ali’s former team-mate and spinner Rashid Khan too showed his praise on Rahul. “He (KL Rahul) goes under the radar. Like this series, how he has batted, his tempo, his technique you know the art like you say how you speak of the art of batting in Test cricket. Going forward, going back, so there is a lot of that in it like it was really tight in defence but then half volleys he drove. That was his game in order. He looked very comfortable and his game was in order. And that’s the first time you have probably seen that over a period of five games where he consistently looked right. This guy looks class. He looks really good in defence, in attack,” Khan said on the podcast.
The five Test series also saw a number of records broken. The series saw a total of 7,187 runs scored, the second most highest aggregate runs in a Test series behind the tally of 7,221 runs scored in the 1993 Ashes series between England and Australia. The Indian team amassed 3,809 runs in the series and it was the second-most runs recorded by a team in a Test series. The series also saw 21 centuries being scored and Ali termed the series as a ‘quality’ series.
“It was one of those series where it was so good to watch and you had such good cricket like you had Shubman’s batting, you had Kl’s batting, you had Root’s batting. It was quality from both sides like it was amazing batting from both sides. And then there were periods of time when the bowling was good. When I look back at this series, there were great partnerships in particular with regards to batters. Like Washington Sunday and Ravindra Jadeja amazingly well. There was loads of fight and a lot of character shown in this series,” said Ali.
