When Rahul bridged the divide
From Madhu Jawali Chennai, Dec 19, 2016, DHNS
Opener enthralls Chepauk crowd with a brilliant innings
The chants of Rahul… Rahul rent the air at the MA Chidambaram stadium, once again emphatically underlining the fact that cricket is both a great healer and a unifier in this country.
Healer because it helped the sizable spectators here to forget, at least for a few hours, the twin tragedies they have gone through in the last couple of weeks – the death of the popular Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and the loss of lives and property due to cyclone Vardah. Unifier because it wasn’t long ago that Karnataka, where Rahul comes from, and Tamil Nadu were almost cut-off from each other over the issue of sharing of Cauvery waters. The hostility was such that Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy league match here against Jharkhand had to be shifted to Greater Noida.
On the day, however, Chennai, which had seen sporadic incidents of violence during the issue, embraced Rahul as it would have R Ashwin and M Vijay. It was a moment that blurred the “great emotional divide” between the two neighbouring states. The celebrations would have reached a crescendo had Rahul brought up his maiden double century, falling as he did on a magnificent 199. The stunned silence in the stadium was only matched by the disappointment on the opener’s face.
“It was a good day till I got out,” said Rahul later in the day. “I was looking to play positively, everything was going my way, I was hitting the ball in the middle and the chances that I took came off; everything was looking good but just unfortunate that the pressure of getting a double hundred got to me. Very happy at the end of the day, (scoring) 199 runs isn't easy but yeah missing out on a double hundred obviously hurts,” he explained.
Rahul admitted that the hurt of missing out on 200 that was more overwhelming than scoring 199 at the moment.
“Obviously right now it is me missing out on the 200, took some time to sink in,” he noted. “I was really disappointed. 200 for a batsman is a big landmark and I’ve never been somebody who has chased landmarks but getting a 200 will always be a proud moment for a batsman and I'm gutted that I missed out.”
It was perhaps a happy end to Rahul’s “homecoming” (playing in India) that hasn’t exactly gone to his liking. An ankle injury ruled him out of last two Tests against New Zealand and the opening Test of this series against England. When he returned for the second in Visakhapatnam he got his first duck of his nascent international career. Then an injury to his left forearm during nets ruled him out of the Mohali match.
“It’s obviously tough coming back from injury,” said Rahul. “I came back after one month and then again miss the third Test, so it plays on your mind. After I missed out after the Vizag Test, my mind was thinking more about getting injured again than to focus on batting. When I reached Mumbai I changed my approach and thought that if I get injured I get injured and it doesn’t really matter and so it’s tough to tell yourself that you won’t get injured again. It was important to get out there and not think about my pain and just do what I have been doing in the last 6-8 months.”
Healer because it helped the sizable spectators here to forget, at least for a few hours, the twin tragedies they have gone through in the last couple of weeks – the death of the popular Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and the loss of lives and property due to cyclone Vardah. Unifier because it wasn’t long ago that Karnataka, where Rahul comes from, and Tamil Nadu were almost cut-off from each other over the issue of sharing of Cauvery waters. The hostility was such that Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy league match here against Jharkhand had to be shifted to Greater Noida.
On the day, however, Chennai, which had seen sporadic incidents of violence during the issue, embraced Rahul as it would have R Ashwin and M Vijay. It was a moment that blurred the “great emotional divide” between the two neighbouring states. The celebrations would have reached a crescendo had Rahul brought up his maiden double century, falling as he did on a magnificent 199. The stunned silence in the stadium was only matched by the disappointment on the opener’s face.
“It was a good day till I got out,” said Rahul later in the day. “I was looking to play positively, everything was going my way, I was hitting the ball in the middle and the chances that I took came off; everything was looking good but just unfortunate that the pressure of getting a double hundred got to me. Very happy at the end of the day, (scoring) 199 runs isn't easy but yeah missing out on a double hundred obviously hurts,” he explained.
Rahul admitted that the hurt of missing out on 200 that was more overwhelming than scoring 199 at the moment.
“Obviously right now it is me missing out on the 200, took some time to sink in,” he noted. “I was really disappointed. 200 for a batsman is a big landmark and I’ve never been somebody who has chased landmarks but getting a 200 will always be a proud moment for a batsman and I'm gutted that I missed out.”
It was perhaps a happy end to Rahul’s “homecoming” (playing in India) that hasn’t exactly gone to his liking. An ankle injury ruled him out of last two Tests against New Zealand and the opening Test of this series against England. When he returned for the second in Visakhapatnam he got his first duck of his nascent international career. Then an injury to his left forearm during nets ruled him out of the Mohali match.
“It’s obviously tough coming back from injury,” said Rahul. “I came back after one month and then again miss the third Test, so it plays on your mind. After I missed out after the Vizag Test, my mind was thinking more about getting injured again than to focus on batting. When I reached Mumbai I changed my approach and thought that if I get injured I get injured and it doesn’t really matter and so it’s tough to tell yourself that you won’t get injured again. It was important to get out there and not think about my pain and just do what I have been doing in the last 6-8 months.”
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