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India veteran wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul is currently lethal form as he scored 375 runs in three Test matches of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, including two centuries and one half century. As the Shubman Gill-led side are preparing for the fourth Test in Manchester needs 60 runs to complete 9,000 international runs.
As England are currently leading 2-1 after defeating India in the third Test match, the visitors will have to play out of their skins to defy this equally competitive English unit. For shifting the momentum of the series, KL Rahul's performance will play a crucial role as he can absorb all the pressure while opening the batting, makes the new ball old, balances out his classy cover drives with some careful leaves.
KL Rahul has played 218 international matches so far and scored 8,940 runs. He’s batted in 254 innings and has an average of about 40 runs per innings. He has made 19 centuries and 58 half-centuries. His highest score is 199. Among Indian cricketers, he ranks 16th in total runs scored.
Even though KL has great technique, calmness, and a wide range of shots, surprisingly, Test cricket hasn’t been his best format. He has scored 3,632 runs in 61 Test matches, with an average of 35.26. He’s made 10 centuries and 18 fifties in the longest format of the game, with his highest score being 199.
KL has done much better in One Day Internationals (ODIs), where he has scored 3,043 runs in 85 matches, averaging over 49 runs with a strike rate of 88.17, with seven centuries and 18 fifties. In T20 Internationals, he is India’s fourth-highest run-scorer with 2,265 runs in 72 matches, an average of 37.75. He has two centuries and 22 fifties in T20Is. However, he hasn’t played T20 Internationals since a tough T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, where his scoring pace looked slower compared to the younger, more aggressive T20 players in India.
Despite some ups and downs, KL is considered one of India’s most reliable batsmen outside Asia. In fact, nine of his ten Test centuries have come in countries outside Asia. Most notably, seven of those centuries came in tough places like South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia (known as SENA countries). He has scored a century in Australia and two in South Africa.
With two Test matches left in this series, KL has a real chance to make this his best Test series so far. His previous best was the 2016-17 home series against Australia, where he scored 393 runs in four matches at an average of 65.50, including six fifties, with a top score of 90.
On this England tour so far, KL has faced 670 balls, which is the fourth-highest by an Indian opener in England since 1990. With two more matches to go, he might break his own record of 735 balls faced in the 2021 England tour. He could also surpass Rohit Sharma’s 866 balls faced during that same tour and Murali Vijay’s all-time record of 1,054 balls faced in England in 2014.
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