Rahul the friend beats Rahul the Test opener

KL Rahul was the first one to walk up to Mayank Agarwal and give him a warm hug after he received his Test cap, for which he had to work harder than any other cricketer in recent memory.

In an ideal world, both KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal would have walked out together to open the batting in the Boxing Day Test match at Melbourne. They have done that many times for Karnataka but doing the same for India in front 80,000 fans was a dream both harboured since U-19 days. Fate, as expected, had other ideas. It answered to the prayers of only one of them and it was Agarwal’s. He got the rare opportunity to his career as an India opener in a Boxing Day Test but his partner was not Rahul. In fact, he had taken Rahul’s place in the Playing XI and partnered by Hanuma Vihari, who was given a promotion aftr Vijay's failures.

Rahul would be the first one to admit that fate had no role in this. It was his torrid run with the bat that paved way for his long-time friend and teammate. He was, after all, touted as India’s first-choice opener after his sparkling century in Oval. A lot changed in a matter of a couple of months and four Test matches. Rahul developed a mental blockage, particularly to incoming deliveries and was ultimately replaced by Agarwal for the third Test. But on Boxing Day, Rahul the friend overtook Rahul the Test opener. He was the first one to walk up to Mayank Agarwal and give him a warm hug after he received his Test cap, for which he had to work harder than any other cricketer in recent memory.

It wasn’t clear at that moment as to what exactly Rahul told Agarwal but Agarwal gave a fair idea at the end of the day’s play. “I had the seniors walk up to me, telling that bigger the day, bigger the opportunity to leave a mark," said Agarwal.

Sure, he wasn’t referring Rahul as the only senior but it was Rahul who spent the most amount of time with the debutant before the toss.

It was, therefore, not a surprise when Rahul was among the firsts to write a congratulatory message for Agarwal, after the latter’s brilliant 76-run knock on debut.

Whether Rahul’s words of wisdom helped Agarwal or not cannot be confirmed with certainty but a different, reserved and patient Agarwal came out to open the batting for India was a fact everyone would agree with. Curbing his natural instinct, which his childhood coach describes as Sehwag-like, Agarwal consumed the most number of balls with partner Hanuma Vihari since Sehwag and Gambhir’s effort in England 8 years ago as an Indian opening pair in overseas conditions.

The confidence with which Agarwal got behind the line to Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins spoke volumes about his confidence, not to forget the way he handled Nathan Lyon, driving him through the covers twice and defending with a big stride forward when he used the round the wicket tactics.  

When he looked set to rewrite history with a century on Boxing Day debut, a Cummins body-line bouncer kissed his glove and landed on Australian captain Tim Paine’s safe hands.

"I am happy but obviously I would have liked more (runs). I would definitely take 76 rather than take something less than that,” Agarwal said after his innings but if you ask Rahul, he would definitely say “You’re just getting started Monkus.”