KL Rahul has been the most consistent performer for India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) series against Australia. KL Rahul needs a century in the fourth Test at the MCG to become the first Indian batsman to achieve a historic feat, something Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have failed to do.
Apart from Rahul, other top batsmen struggled for runs. Notably, the Karnataka batsman was unsure of his place in the playing XI but got a chance thanks to Rohit Sharma's absence in the first Test. Since then, he has made it impossible for team management to drop him from the starting slot.
KL Rahul on the cusp of history Becoming the first Indian batsman to achieve a milestone
India and Australia will face each other in the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting Thursday, December 26. The ongoing Test series is currently deadlocked at 1-1. KL Rahul has a chance to achieve a rare milestone by scoring a hat-trick of centuries in Boxing Day Tests.
Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane are the only other Indians with multiple centuries in Boxing Day Tests. Rahul scored centuries in the 2021 and 2023 Boxing Day Tests against South Africa. His only previous Boxing Day Test outing in Australia was in 2014 where he struggled with scores of 3 and 1.
Centuries by Indian batsmen in Boxing Day Tests
| Player | Centuries Test on Boxing Day | Opponent and Year |
|---|---|---|
| Sachin Tendulkar | 2 | New Zealand (1998), Australia (1999) |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 2 | Australia (2014, 2020) |
| KL Rahul | 2 | South Africa (2021, 2023) |
| Dilip Vengsarkar | 1 | West Indies (1987) |
| Kapil Dev | 1 | South Africa (1992) |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 1 | New Zealand (1998) |
| Virat Kohli | 1 | Australia (2014) |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | 1 | Australia (2018) |
KL Rahul has been India's top scorer in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy
KL Rahul was India's top scorer in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing 235 runs in six innings in three matches at an average of 47. His crucial knock of 84 in the third Test a helped India save a draw. Rahul is currently second overall for most runs in the series behind Travis Head.
In 2024, Rahul played in eight Tests, scoring 469 runs at an average of 39.08, including four fifties. In the current cycle of the ICC World Test Championship (2023-25), the right-handed batsman has scored 574 runs in nine matches at an average of 41.00 with one century and four half-centuries.
The upcoming MCG Test will mark the 10th anniversary of Rahul's international debut, which came at the same venue against Australia in 2014. His only century in Australia came in the second Test of his career, in Sydney in 2015. He will be hoping to score a century after missing out twice in the series.