AHMEDABAD: Only two Test hundreds at home for KL Rahul in a career spanning over a decade may not sit well with his admirers. But elegant India batter on Friday said he has been working hard to correct that anomaly.
Rahul, who has had an excellent tour of England this summer, struck his 11th century on the second day of the opening Test against the West Indies here — his first at home since the ton against the same team in Chennai way back in 2016.
“Not sure really,” Rahul said at the end of day’s play when asked why a batter of his calibre has got just two hundreds at home.
Having resumed at 121 for 2, India closed the day on a commanding 448 for 5, showing no signs of declaring. This was no Bazball-style charge, but rather a demonstration of patience and discipline, as India’s batters respected the conditions and applied themselves — in sharp contrast to the young West Indies batting group, who had squandered their chances by neglecting the basics of red-ball cricket.
India opener KL Rahul on Friday became the fourth Indian batter to score 10 or more centuries as a Test opener, surpassing Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma, who have nine each. The milestone came during the first Test against the West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Rahul made 100 off 197 balls with 12 fours before he was dismissed by Jomel Warrican at the start of the second session, giving a sitter to Justin Greaves at short extra-cover.
He now joins Sunil Gavaskar (33 centuries), Virender Sehwag (22 centuries), and Murali Vijay (12 centuries) in the 10-plus century club for India as Test openers, according to Wisden.
This was Rahul’s first century at home since December 2016, when he scored 199 against England in Chennai. The 3,211-day gap between his home hundreds is the longest interval for an Indian batter, and the fourth-longest gap overall between two centuries at home, with Ravichandran Ashwin holding the record at 36 innings.
KL Rahul has enjoyed a prolific run in 2025, amassing 649 runs in seven matches at an average of 54.08, including three centuries and two fifties. His standout series came against England in the UK, where he scored 532 runs in 10 innings, finishing as the third-highest run-scorer.”
