"He (Rahul) has been looking in good shape, including today. It is just that he is finding new ways to get out. Even today, the ball was quite far when he played it away from his body and lost his wicket.”
Sanjay Bangar, India’s batting coach's words after Rahul's dismissal in the warm-up game against CA XI before this tour, stayed true right through the series. The Karnataka opener was finding newer ways to get dismissed while the scores continued to slide downhill.
Rahul's lack of success at the top of the order will remain an enigma for he appears among the most talented batsmen in world cricket. The runs, though, have just deserted him. He returned home after a stunning 149 in England in the final match of the tour and it seemed like he had put his frailties behind. But in the home series against the Windies, he appeared equally circumspect.
When he landed in Australia, Rahul was probably in a negative frame of mind given his failings. He sought ways to get out and appeared vulnerable to anything outside his off-stump with many putting down his failures on this tour to a mental issue. But possibly it just isn't a mental issue.
Take a look at his last fourteen Test dismissals and you see 11 of them are either bowled or lbw.
This sequence began in the second innings at Lord's when he was trapped in front. In all of the next eight Test innings, extending till the second test against the Windies, Rahul was either bowled or trapped in front.
In England, Rahul seemed to be on the lookout for that away swinger from James Anderson and more often than not played inside the line. The front foot was going across and the head falling over, a position that is suitable to leave many balls outside off-stump. But the mindset left him vulnerable to the ones coming back in and soon it turned into a vicious cycle he couldn't break free from.
Bangar worked extensively with Rahul after the England series and the correction was there to be seen against the Windies. But the opener seemed way too preoccupied with getting his movements right in that series that he was late on the ball both times he was dismissed. Rahul was on the move in the two dismissals in the series and Bangar had more work to do with the opener.
Cometh Australia, the problem got complicated. The runs drying up didn't help either and he seemed to get into a mindset of playing positively which had worked for him in the past.
The big issue? He was up against Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood with the new ball, two bowlers with contrasting skills and completely different release points and angles.
Against Starc, Rahul was always waiting for the one coming back into him while against Hazlewood, he was undecided on which way it could seam. Starc kept probing Rahul by straightening the ball past his edge while Hazlewood hit a back of a length channel only to befuddle him with late swing off the fuller ones.
Rahul, looking to be positive, made the mistake of moving forward and playing away from the body. Except for a corker yorker from Hazlewood last Test, each of Rahul's dismissals was a result of him being loose with his technique. He was no longer playing with his head falling over like in England but it didn't stop him from going after wide balls. Three of his five dismissals this tour has been caught.
In the one innings he showed a penchant for going after everything and things fell into place – at Adelaide in the second innings – Rahul looked to loft Hazlewood inside out and edged behind. That dismissal, perhaps a tad too overly criticised by several, seemed to be playing in his mind at Perth and Sydney.
At Perth, he went back to that circumspect Rahul of England and was cleaned up on both occasions but the break after that Test, when he was dropped for MCG, saw him return to fine-tune his technique again.
At SCG on day one, Rahul was uncertain and unsure and edged nearly every ball he faced – six of them. Of the final ball, he edged Hazlewood to the cordon to end another frustrating innings.
The opener sorely needs to be sent back to domestic cricket to work on his technical issues. They are co-related to his frame of mind but that has stemmed only from a faulty technique against the fourth stump line. He needs time to work on and polish that tendency to either leave a gaping hole to balls coming in or go fetching outside the off-stump against away swingers.
He was hurried back into the XI and his confidence would be destroyed after another poor outing in whites. India will move on with Prithvi Shaw, when he is back fit, and Mayank Agarwal but Rahul needs to be watched out for. There are few batsmen as talented as him and once he gets his suspect technique right, Rahul could return to bolster India’s top-order resources. But for now, he needs that break from the Test side and the Test side needs a break from Rahul.
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