'With the talent that KL Rahul has, his average in Test cricket should be more than 60'. When Matthew Hayden, one of Australia's greatest opening batsmen, said this about Team India's batsman Rahul, his average was only around 34, whereas he had played more than 50 Tests. This average of Rahul in such a long career often becomes the reason for his criticism. Despite getting many opportunities, his place has often been questioned due to his below expected performance. Still he remains in the team. Why does this happen? Its example was seen at Lord's a few years ago, last year at Centurion and now it has been seen in Perth.

Before the Perth Test, the question remained whether Rahul should get a chance in the playing eleven in the series against Australia? Despite failing against Bangladesh and sitting on the bench during the New Zealand series, he was selected for the Australia tour, on which questions were raised as usual. Then when the news of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill being out of the Perth Test came, Team India had only one reliable option - KL Rahul, whom most of the fans have little trust in.

But this batsman presented another proof of why Team India gives so many opportunities to Rahul and why it fields him in different batting positions in every kind of situation. In the first innings of the Perth Test, where Team India's top order was struggling against the Australian pace, Rahul batted bravely. The controversial decision certainly took his wicket but his eyes were set and this was visible in the second innings. Rahul showed patience in front of the sharp bowling of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood and did not make any mistakes.

Gradually, by staying on the crease, he not only tired the Australian bowlers, but also kept explaining to his young partner Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was losing patience in between. Rahul displayed his experience and his excellent technique and after seeing his shot, Wasim Akram, who was doing the commentary, even said that he remembered Sachin Tendulkar. Rahul batted with Jaiswal for two sessions and made an unbeaten partnership of 172 runs, putting the team in an excellent position. Rahul is unbeaten on 62 runs, while Jaiswal also scored 90 runs.

This is not the first time that Rahul has taken charge of the team in a difficult situation. Earlier in 2021, when Shubman Gill was suddenly injured, Rahul had taken the responsibility of opening for the team on the England tour. In the Lord's Test, Rahul played an excellent inning of 129 runs in swinging conditions. Then in the same year, he played an innings of 123 runs while opening the batting against the deadly South African attack in Centurion in South Africa. Last year in December, again in Centurion, Rahul single-handedly handled Team India's faltering batting and played an innings of 101 runs, while this time he landed at number six. This is enough to say that Rahul has handled the team in many big crises and hence the team management trusts him again and again.