The number 199 in itself is a remarkable cricket score. Only nine men have been dismissed on 199 out of the 367 times that score has been reached in Test cricket. KL Rahul scored the last 50 of those 199 in a soiled shirt. He tried a reverse sweep on 98. Who knows that might have been the shot to play, with the turn, on 199 too? He cramped a little on the first evening. He hit three sixes. Had a strike rate of close to 64. Yet barring his reaction of utter disbelief when he lobbed up a wide ball for a catch at point on 199, this is perhaps the most unremarkable 199 of all.
In that lies the beauty of the innings. It was as 9 to 5 as it can get in the heat and humidity of Chennai. Never did Rahul look in any trouble on a flat pitch, "the best" batting track this series. His wicket was never threatened, his scoring never checked. The mix of old-school Test batting and the freedom his IPL exploits make him a threatening prospect, which is perhaps why Virat Kohli kept him in the side when he scored a hundred in the chance he got thanks to M Vijay's injury in the West Indies.
The offshoot of such selections and rivalries for slots is that when you get injured you need to keep looking over your shoulder. Gautam Gambhir scores a fifty, and you start wondering what now. Shikhar Dhawan gets fit again, and you wonder what now. Then Parthiv Patel comes in and scores a fifty too. Rahul's latest injury was an impact injury - a blow on his arm when fielding close-in - but when you miss Tests as often as Rahul has, you start wondering if you are building a reputation for being unfit amid repeated hamstring injuries. That is what makes grabbing this chance - coming back into the side - remarkable. Rahul said the frequent injuries had begun to get to him too.
"It's obviously tough coming back from injury," Rahul said. "I came back once, and then I got hit on my hand, and had to take break from the third Test so it plays on your mind. After I missed out in the Vizag Test, I did feel like my mind was more thinking about not to get injured again than to focus on batting. Came back to Mumbai with a different approach.
"I told myself if I get injured again, it doesn't really matter. It is tough to tell yourself that you won't get injured again. If it keeps happening so much, it plays on your mind obviously. It was very important for me to go out there, not think about my pain or my injuries. It was important for me to just go out there and stick to what I have been doing over the last six to eight months. That is to watch the ball and hit the ball to the boundary."
There was good reason to doing what he has been doing over the last six to eight months. They have been spectacular for him. In the IPL he demonstrated his power game followed by a century on ODI debut, a Test comeback in the West Indies and a Twenty20 international century in the USA. He is the fourth-highest run-getter in all international cricket for India this year, and one of the only 31 worldwide to reach 900. He has done so in 16 innings; the next-fewest is 23.
The all-format ease was visible in Rahul's innings in Chennai. If England managed to string together dot balls, it didn't bother him. He knew he had the shots. He didn't have this freedom before this year's IPL. The knowledge he can strike the ball far has added a new dimension to his batting. Earlier he used to feel nervous about getting started in an innings. Now he goes on unfazed. The effortless rise in his strike rate has been a natural progression.
Except the nerves showed up in the 190s this time. A fine sweep took Rahul from 195 to 199, and England brought fielders up except for long-off. As Adil Rashid pitched a legbreak up, you thought long-off would be the easy option. Then the ball drifted. Rahul followed it, ending up playing away from the body. There is a good chance he will never play such a shot again. The moment the ball hit the edge, Rahul knew he was in trouble. Even before the catch was taken, he was on his haunches. He went back slower than an SUV on the nearby Mount Road. His team-mates told him things, but he can't say whether they were consolation or congratulation, because he didn't listen to anything. He was just bitterly disappointed and in a daze.
"Obviously right now it is me missing out on the double-hundred," Rahul said honestly when asked if the overwhelming emotion was the 199 runs he scored or the one that he missed. "Took some time to sink in. I was really disappointed. Two hundred for a batsman is a big landmark. I've never been somebody who has chased landmarks but getting a double-hundred will always be a proud moment for a batsman. I'm gutted that I missed out. But it has been a tough couple of months for me, a few injuries, and I just have to be grateful that I went out there and got a hundred under my name.
"I was just so excited about getting that one run that I forgot to take my time, and I felt like I just rushed into playing that shot. It is more disappointing that I got out to a ball like that. It hurts even more that I did that when I was batting on 199."
Eight years ago against South Africa, on a similar Chennai pitch whose preparation had been affected by rain in the lead-up, India were up against it when they started their innings in the final session of day two. Virender Sehwag back then ruled out an Indian defeat with a triple-century at better than a run a ball. There can be no other Sehwag, but Rahul with this added T20-like dimension to his batting can put opposition bowlers off their rhythm with his quick scoring. He can do worse than emulating Sehwag's philosophical attitude towards landmarks.