‘Will learn from Mr Gavaskar’: KL Rahul says ‘no regrets’ about not using his feet to spin in Test series against South Africa

Rahul started off saying he doesn’t have any regrets. “There is no regret of executing what I did. It is a Test format. At the stage that I was playing, it was the last few overs of the day. I don’t think that’s the right time for me to try and step down and hit the bowler for a boundary.”

He was referring to the second-innings dismissal when he got out to Simon Harmer, playing a puzzling waft to a big off break from outside off stump that threaded the bat-and-pad gap to bowl him.

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It’s that ‘it is a Test format’ that is interesting to dive into. It’s the pressure of the red-ball format that possibly handcuffs him mentally. When it was put to him that one wasn’t talking about the big lofted hits necessarily, but the fact that he can use his feet to nullify the spin like Cheteshwar Pujara would. That has been absent in the current team of players. Not many go down the track, and when a couple like Rishabh Pant or Ravindra Jadeja do, it’s more to play the lofted hits. That Pujara-like nullifying with whips, pushes, and nudges after going to the pitch of the ball is sorely missing in Test cricket.

Rahul talked about the monologue that runs in his mind in Test cricket, where he tussles with that going-down-the-track option.

The art of using the feet just to kill the spin, and not necessarily hit a big shot, is a lost art in Indian cricket these days. (CREIMAS)

“If I had stepped down and gotten out, maybe that would have been a question mark in my own head as to whether that was right or wrong,” Rahul said.

When the alternate is lunging from the crease with low hands as he perished in the first innings, or lunging out for a waft to be bowled in the second innings, going down the track to nullify the spin (or hit) doesn’t seem as risky a option as it has been made out. But that’s the pressure of Test cricket where the stakes are seemingly higher that someone as experienced and as good as Rahul says pithily, ‘it’s a Test format’.

“Looking back, yes, maybe I would have but it was only the second ball of the over,” Rahul said in hindsight. “At that point in time, I think defending was the right option to do, which I didn’t do well enough. That’s what I take away from that dismissal.”

It’s an interesting takeaway that the option of defending by using the feet doesn’t seem to arise as naturally to the modern-day Indian batsman. The art of using the feet just to kill the spin, and not necessarily hit a big shot, is a lost art in Indian cricket these days.

Another questioner brought up the ailing art of playing spin, raising comparison with how “Sunil Gavaskar used to play spin”.

Rahul listened patiently and said the right things. “We can learn from Mr. Gavaskar. We are already trying to find ways to play spinners better. It won’t happen overnight. I don’t know why we used to play spinners in the past. There are a lot of reasons for this. We can only think about how we can improve as players.

“I cannot give you a definitive answer. I can only say that we have not been able to play spinners well. We understand and recognise that this is a part of our game. How can we get better individually? When this situation comes back, we have a series in Sri Lanka for 6-7 months. We have an Indian home series from Australia. How can we improve? What are the technical changes we need to make? We will individually try to seek answers and do better. That’s all we can do. As you said, we used to play spinners well. We will reach out to those players and seniors.”