KL Rahul becomes 2nd Asian opener to slam 500-plus runs in England series: joins Sunil Gavaskar in elite list

MANCHESTER :Indian batter KL Rahul has become the second Asian opener to aggregate 500-plus runs in a Test series in England, after legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar (542 in 1979). He’s also the second visiting opener to do that in the country in the 21st century after Graeme Smith (714 runs in 2003).

He achieved this feat in his outing against England in the fourth test of Anderson-Tendulkar trophy in Manchester. He has slammed 508 runs in four matches at an average of 72.57 with two hundreds and fifties each.

He remained not out on 87 at the end of Day 4. His partnership with Indian skipper Shubman Gill of 174 runs helped India to finish Day 4 on 174/2, trailing by 137 runs. England went wicketless in the final two sessions of Day 4.

This was the first time a pair had batted through two complete sessions in an innings in this series. Rahul also completed 9000 runs in international cricket across all formats.

Coming to the fourth test, a stellar partnership between Indian skipper Shubman Gill and KL Rahul of 174 runs helped India finish Day 4 on 174/2, trailing by 137 runs against England in the fourth Test at Manchester on Saturday.

India went wicketless in the final session and added 126 runs to their tally, with KL Rahul 87* and Shubman Gill 78* unbeaten on the crease. India started the third session at 86/2 with Gill, who looked in fine touch, notched up his eighth Test fifty and fourth against England off 77 deliveries.

His innings has been laced with eight delightful boundaries, showing great control and intent at the crease. He was batting on 52 off 80 deliveries. At the other end, KL Rahul played the perfect support role, remaining unbeaten on 30 with two boundaries to his name.

In the 40th over, the duo of Rahul and Gill completed a 100-run stand for the third wicket. Rahul slammed his second fifty of the ongoing series in the 43rd over after pushing the ball for a single off Liam Dawson.

Brief Scores: India 358 & 174/2 (KL Rahul 87*, Shubman Gill 78*; Chris Woakes 2/48) vs England 669 (Joe Root 150, Ben Stokes 141, Ravindra Jadeja 4/143) (ANI)