KL Rahul Shines Abroad, Struggles at Home – But Why?

There are some players for whom the numbers are never going to make any sense. Yesterday when KL Rahul was going through the motions and structuring his innings together, could anyone tell that they were looking at a batter that averages below 40 or someone who can’t always ensure their place in the side.

Nothing about KL Rahul makes sense, not his middling average of 35.22, not him being shifted around the batting order and neither does his inconsistency make any sense if you have ever seen him batting at his best. KL Rahul is an enigma of test batting, full of class and flair but never having the consistency that he very well deserves.

KL Rahul’s centuries

It is normal for most batters to be at their best in home conditions and by extension for most of their centuries to come in home conditions. Not KL Rahul, out of the 10 centuries that he has made only one of them came in home conditions. The other ten centuries have all come in foreign conditions.

Indian batters primarily brought up on subcontinental pitches perform better against spin than swing and seam. Here, again Rahul is an anomaly bringing up more hundreds overseas in pace-friendly conditions such as England and South Africa than in India. He seems to prefer batting on more pace friendly pitches than on home pitches that spin.

Wobble ball era

The last five years has been primarily bowling-dominated with batting averages dipping around the world, batting and scoring runs has become especially difficult. The problem seems to be centred around pace bowling, with the innovation of the wobble ball which has made scoring runs especially difficult on bowling friendly wickets.

The combination of the wobble ball and bowling friendly pitches that yield results in test matches has meant that batters have found it difficult to go about their trade in recent times. These factors have probably influenced KL Rahul’s sub 40 average. In any other era that was more batting friendly era, he would possibly have averaged over 40, being probably the best asset that the Indian team has on their away tours.

Structuring an innings

Anyone who has watched KL Rahul bat has noticed how adept he is at building an innings. Switching between defensive and aggressive gears through an innings depending on how easy the pitch is for scoring at the moment is something he has a natural knack for. Much of his skill as an opening batter comes from his ability to see off the new ball in SENA conditions.

In the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, he has been consistently putting his skills of constructing innings to good use and converting them into 100s naturally, something that has eluded him for all his career. Even his performances in the last BGT(2024-25), a low-scoring series showcased his ability to perform overseas in tougher conditions for Indian batters.

It is his inconsistency of scores and inability to convert starts that have brought about his subpar numbers in test matches. Couple that with never being able to secure his position in the order and bowling friendly conditions, we get a batter with a subpar average who was possibly destined for many more runs given better circumstances.

KL Rahul’s success away from home

KL Rahul with his strength of playing pace and swing often shines his brightest on away tours for India. On tough wickets in South Africa, he brought up two centuries and had handy, if a little inconsistent run of performances in Australia last winter.

He is also an above par batter in India but has failed to convert them into triple digit knocks. The introduction of rank turners of late in India has not done his average any favours. While wobble ball and pace friendly pitches rage overseas and rank turners with deadly spin at home it is  difficult for him to find anywhere where he can make those consistent runs to improve his average.

Consistently, his best performances have come at England(with another test hundred in the ongoing test match which is not accounted for in this graph) where he has managed to negotiate the dukes ball well and convert them into bigger scores. 

His average of 28.38 at South Africa might seem low but it also comes with a match factor of 1.74(which essentially means that his average is 74% better than the mean batting average of both teams) which again exhibits KL Rahul’s knack of adapting to foreign conditions and scoring useful runs.

KL Rahul: The best contemporary batter averaging under 40

With KL Rahul’s technical skill set, his versatility in the batting order and his success away from home it is only his consistency that has been lacking through his career. We can see how KL Rahul consistency varies through a series over five matches.

The ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar trophy has seen KL Rahul score centuries in the first and third test already and has maintained consistency through the first three tests. With him holding the opening spot for the second tour in a row, some stability could help KL Rahul achieve the greatness that he has always deserved.