India wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul scored his eighth Test and 17th international century against South Africa in Centurion today. This is his third century for India across formats this year. After making his return to the highest level during Asia Cup 2023, Rahul has been in top form, to say the least.
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Rahul, who scored his first international hundred against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2015, remains the only Indian batter to have scored a century on ODI debut till date. Additionally, Rahul is also the first batter to score a century in T20Is while playing at No. 4 (or lower).
First overseas batter to score two Test centuries at the SuperSport Park, seven out of Rahul’s eight tons in the format have come away from home. Furthermore, the 31-year old player has become only the second Indian wicket-keeper after Rishabh Pant to score a Test century in SENA countries.
KL Rahul Total Centuries Across All Formats Of International Cricket
| S No. | Format | Runs | Balls | Opoosition | Ground | Year |
| 1 | Test | 110 | 262 | Australia | Melbourne | 2015 |
| 2 | Test | 108 | 190 | Sri Lanka | Colombo (PSS) | 2015 |
| 3 | ODI | 100* | 115 | Zimbabwe | Harare | 2016 |
| 4 | Test | 158 | 303 | West Indies | Kingston | 2016 |
| 5 | T20I | 110* | 51 | West Indies | Lauderhill | 2016 |
| 6 | Test | 199 | 311 | England | Chennai | 2016 |
| 7 | T20I | 101* | 54 | England | Manchester | 2018 |
| 8 | Test | 149 | 224 | England | London (The Oval) | 2018 |
| 9 | ODI | 111 | 118 | Sri Lanka | Leeds | 2019 |
| 10 | ODI | 102 | 104 | West Indies | Visakhapatnam | 2019 |
| 11 | ODI | 112 | 113 | New Zealand | Mount Maunagnui | 2020 |
| 12 | ODI | 108 | 114 | England | Pune | 2021 |
| 13 | Test | 129 | 250 | England | London (Lord’s) | 2021 |
| 14 | Test | 123 | 260 | South Africa | Centurion | 2021 |
| 15 | ODI | 111* | 106 | Pakistan | Colombo | 2023 |
| 16 | ODI | 102 | 64 | Netherlands | Bengaluru | 2023 |
| 17 | Test | 101 | 137 | South Africa | Centurion | 2023 |
KL Rahul Justifies New Role On Test Comeback
Keen to become a middle-order specialist across formats now, KL Rahul celebrating a Test comeback with an overseas ton is as good as they come.
With him proving his versatility by playing different roles across conditions, batting positions and formats, it would be safe to say that he is finally justifying his potential apart from the decision to make him bat in the middle-order after as many as nine years. Interestingly, the only other time when Rahul had batted outside of the top-order in Test cricket was in his debut innings.
Playing as a specialist wicket-keeper batter for the first time, Rahul found himself in the middle with India struggling at 92/4. With the South African bowlers breathing fire on a damp pitch which was behaving in an oddly manner, the best thing about Rahul’s knock was his counter-attacking approach. Refraining from entering a shell, the right-handed batter successfully punished the bowlers for each mistake of theirs.
Despite all the odds, Rahul kept searching for runs knowing how one good ball would be enough to dismiss any batter on such a pitch. Rahul’s intent can be judged from the fact that he scored most of his runs in the presence of tail-enders before touching the three-figure mark with a maximum. Former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri, calling the match for host broadcaster SuperSport, labelled the knock as Rahul’s best Test century.
Having faced a lot of criticism from both fans and former cricketers with regard to his Test form earlier in the year, Rahul has certainly shut down numerous mouths by scoring yet another overseas Test century after being asked to bat first.
