How a simple truck-tyre drill helped KL Rahul improve his wicket-keeping, got him gold medal and Virat Kohli’s appreciation | Cricket-world-cup News

When a young KL Rahul walked into a U-13 camp in Mangalore organised the Karnataka State Cricket Association, he introduced himself to the coach Jayaraj: “Sir, I am KL Rahul, and I’m a wicketkeeper batsman.” The coach has recalled in the past how Rahul was a pretty good wicket keeper then, but he identified that the boy’s batting talent was waiting to be tapped and encouraged. Though he continued to keep wickets in the age-group level, Rahul the batsman began to move out of the wicketkeeper’s shadow.
This World Cup, after being trolled for his wicket-keeping during the ODI series against Australia in October, Rahul’s glove work is being celebrated again. In the 25th over, when the extra bounce from Mohammad Siraj’s scrambled-seam ball surprised Melody Hasan Miraz who stabbed it down leg side, Rahul not only moved swiftly to his left but also threw in a stunning dive to pouch it with his left hand. He stood there and roared in delight.
That natural skill in the developmental years does always help, in the words of India’s fielding coach T Dilip. Earlier this year, Dilip had spoken about it: “Since he is not someone who has picked the gloves just now — he has been doing that since a younger age – he adds a lot of things. Not much difficult to work on his wicket keeping skills, apart from refining a few aspects.”

In particular there have been a few aspects to refine: How to keep him crouched with his hands still low and moving to the side, as he shuffles to his left or right. He had the habit, like most irregular keepers do, of yanking up his hands when he shuffles to the side.
Secondly, he is also reluctant to run up to the stumps after a shot is played, often arriving at the stumps a tad too late.
Both errors would crop up during the October ODI series against Australia in India. He was late in getting up to the stumps and failed to collect throws and on at least one occasion, missed a run-out. The trolls leaped out with memes – pictures of torn gloves with a gaping hole in the middle did the rounds.
Dilip’s DRILL
Ahead of the World Cup, Dilip had a drill with Rahul. A huge fat tyre was placed in front of him, as if it was the batsman. Two short stumps, cut in size, were placed adjacent to each other on the leg side of the tyre, and a bat placed horizontally on top of those two stumps. Dilip would throw the ball, spin it down the leg side of the tyre, and Rahul would shuffle to his left to gather. Occasionally, the ball would ricochet off the horizontal bat and deflect at awkward angles. If the ball misses the bat, like it would do most times, Rahul would still have to shuffle and gather. When the deflection happens, he would have to adjust and try to pouch the ball.
Every now and then, Dilip would walk across, and show Rahul how it’s done. In particular, he would point out Rahul’s urge to lift his hands up during shuffle, and tell him to keep the hands down even as he moves sideways to his left.Most Read
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KL Rahul performing keeping drills during India’s World Cup camp in Alur.(Screengrab/BCCI)
In wicketkeeping, sometimes it’s the hands that get a lot of attention, but Dilip would also get Rahul’s feet moving crisply; else he would have to lunge to his left and the hands would come up too early to compensate for the lack of feet movement.

The feet and the hands worked nicely during the spectacular catch to dismiss Litton Das. He first side-shuffled to his left, got relatively closer to the ball, before he leapt acrobatically to take a stunner.
His work behind the stumps even after the last ODI was appreciated Dilip, who had given him the gold medal that he dributed in the dressing room to the best fielder of the day. “One skill generally which really gets ignored. I think that is wicketkeeping, we expect to do the job, but some of the things we spoke about coming to the wicket and coming to the stumps to collect that throws. Doing the leg side stump and catches. I think overall KL Rahul was fantastic,” Dilip said in the dressing room. Virat Kohli’s squeals of appreciation at Rahul getting the medal is already a viral moment; and more can be expected from the dressing room after this game against Bangladesh.