KL Rahul has proven his versatility with the bat. Ask him to open, he does. Tell him to drop one down, he obliges. Demote him to the lower middle order, no qualms. He鈥檚 a complete team man. On Monday, during the penultimate day of the first Test between India and England in Leeds, the India star peeled off a classical century. In the company of Rishabh Pant, who also scored a hundred, he helped India set England 371 to win.
During the course of his innings, Rahul struck 18 fours to score 137 off 247. While he was entertaining the crowd with his strokeplay, the senior batter was also showing off his multilingual skills in the middle.
Rahul was involved in a series of significant partnerships involving B Sai Sudharsan, Pant and Karun Nair. And he was having conversation with his batting partners, hailing from different state, to help them keep a cool head and a step ahead of their opponents.
In a clip, Rahul can be heard telling Sudharsan in Tamil that the pitch is offering some bounce to the spinner. 鈥淢achi, nalla bounce irikke. (There鈥檚 some good bounce on the track.),鈥 Rahul told the debutant.
KL to Sai : 喈ㄠ喁嵿 Bounce 喈囙喁佮畷喁嵿畷喁 喈畾喁嵿畾喈. ?馃ぉ
? 喈む瘖喈熰喁嵿喁嵿喁 喈曕喈｀瘉喈權瘝喈曕喁 | England vs India | 1st Test | Day 03 | 喈ㄠ瘒喈班喁 | JioHotstar-喈侧瘝#ENGvIND #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/5Zt9Gz9Q2j
鈥 Star Sports Tamil (@StarSportsTamil) June 22, 2025
With Pant, Rahul was conversing in Hindi and with Nair, his close friend, he switched to Kannada.
Former India wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who was on air, noted Rahul鈥檚 鈥榲ersatility鈥.
鈥淗e鈥檚 (Rahul) speaking Tamil to Sai Sudharshan, speaking in Hindi to Rishabh and now he鈥檚 speaking in Kannada to Karun Nair. Not only versatile in batting but also in languages,鈥 Karthik said.