Opener in fine form during the England tour achieves remarkable milestone.
He missed out on a fifty by a small margin, but KL Rahul made his mark with a significant achievement during his innings. The 33-year-old became only the second Indian opener to score 1,000 Test runs on English soil.
Coming into the Old Trafford Test, Rahul needed just 28 runs to reach the milestone. On the first ball of the 15th over on Wednesday, he took a single to reach the landmark. He was later dismissed for 46 off 98 balls — a stylish knock, albeit short of a half-century.
Before Rahul, the only other Indian opener to have scored over 1,000 runs in Tests in England was the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Over his 16-year Test career, Gavaskar scored 1,152 runs in 28 innings in England.
Rahul now has 1,018 runs from 23 innings as an opener in England. Vijay Merchant is third on the list, having scored 527 runs from 11 innings — a distant figure compared to the top two.
Besides Gavaskar and Rahul, no other Indian opener has managed 1,000 Test runs in a single overseas country. Gavaskar also achieved the feat in Pakistan and the West Indies.
Rahul made his Test debut in England in 2018. At Edgbaston, he batted at No. 3 and could only manage scores of 4 and 13.
Since then, he has opened the innings in all 12 Tests he’s played in England. Overall, from 25 innings in the country, Rahul has scored 1,035 runs at an average of 41.40, with four centuries and two fifties.
Among all Indian batters, only five have scored over 1,000 Test runs in England: Gavaskar, Rahul, Sachin Tendulkar (1,575 runs in 30 innings), Rahul Dravid (1,376 in 23 innings), and Virat Kohli (1,096 in 33 innings). Interestingly, Kohli is the only one among them who hasn’t scored 1,000 against England in England.
Across 15 Tests in England over his 14-year career, Kohli has 976 runs. In the ICC World Test Championship finals held in England, he scored 44 and 13 against New Zealand in Southampton and 14 and 49 against Australia at The Oval.
Rahul has looked in brilliant touch throughout this England tour. In the first Test at Headingley, he scored 42 and 137. At Edgbaston, he followed scores of 2 and 55. At Lord’s, he notched up 100 in the first innings and 39 in the second. And now in Manchester, he added another solid 46 in the first innings.
