Lokesh Rahul is a batsman who will haunt bowlers in time to come. Not that he has been discovered overnight, the Karnataka stroke-player has been around for four years now.
It is just this season that he has grown in stature and begun to make people around him take notice of his awesome potential.
The sparse crowd at the Ferozeshah Kotla was treated to a delightful exhibition of batsmanship.
Rahul, in fact, belongs to the next level, his century this day a precursor to a promising career.
Riding on his glowing innings, South Zone took a firm grip on the Duleep Trophy final against Central Zone here on Thursday.
Rahul, with an unbeaten 168, showed the way with Robin Uthappa (80) joining the run-spree but not the same hunger for runs.
Rahul dictated the attack, scoring with the ease of a master. After Central folded for 276, adding only 39 runs this morning off 13 overs, it was Rahul’s show in the afternoon.
Adept on either foot, Rahul revelled in some rousing strokes square of the wicket. The features of his innings were his straight bat, his still head, and his majestic shot selection. “He never looked in a hurry, never,” noted South coach Hemang Badani. At 22, Rahul, well groomed and grounded, should count himself one of the best candidates for the opener’s slot in the years to come.
An on-driven six off leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was a gem. “I liked my timing of the ball. It was an easy-paced pitch and this was one of my top innings,” said Rahul.
A trait that adds to Rahul’s repertoire is his art of leaving the ball, the old-fashioned forte of a quality opener.
Rahul’s 205-ball knock contained 18 fours and two sixes while Uthappa, who batted 97 balls, hit 13 fours and two sixes. Central seamer Pankaj Singh, getting the ball to reverse, dismissed Baba Aparajith, Dinesh Karthik and R. Prasanna.
But Rahul stifled any hope the opposition had entertained. He promises to build on his wonderful knock to extend the despair that Central encountered today.
The scores:
Central Zone — 1st innings: Faiz Fazal c Vihari b Aparajith 49, Jalaj Saxena c D. Karthik b Vinay 2, Robin Bist c A. Mithun b Ojha 79, Naman Ojha c Vinay b Aparajith 4, Ashok Menaria st Karthik b Vihari 37, Mahesh Rawat c Karthik b Gopal 0, Arindam Ghosh c Aparajith b Vinay 32, Piyush Chawla c Uthappa b Sharath 30, Ali Murtaza b Mithun 16, Ishwar Pandey lbw b Ojha 15, Pankaj Singh (not out) 8; Extras (nb-4): 4; Total (in 100 overs): 276.
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-90, 3-94, 4-162, 5-163, 6-185, 7-237, 8-237, 9-262.
South bowling: R. Vinay Kumar 25-9-54-2, A. Mithun 17-9-35-1, S. Sharath 17-6-56-1, Pragyan Ojha 19-4-49-2, S. Gopal 14-2-53-1, R. Uthappa 1-0-1-0, B. Aparajith 6-0-26-2, H. Vihari 1-0-2-1.
South — 1st innings: Robin Uthappa lbw b Saxena 80, K. Lokesh Rahul (batting) 168, B. Aparajith c N. Ojha b Pankaj 21, Dinesh Karthik lbw b Pankaj 0, R. Prasanna c N. Ojha b Pankaj 0, Hanuma Vihari (batting) 38; Extras (lb-1): 1; Total (for four wkts. in 69 overs): 308.
Fall of wickets: 1-168, 2-231, 3-231, 4-233.
Central bowling: Pankaj Singh 17-3-55-3, Ishwar Pandey 15-2-69-0, Faiz Fazal 3-0-13-0, Ali Murtaza 8-0-46-0, Piyush Chawla 12-1-75-0, Jalaj Saxena 14-0-49-1.
