The India Cricket Team played a Test match at home for the first time in 14 years without three stalwarts: Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma. That leaves Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul as the two senior most player in the team. Rahul admits that in Engand, “it felt a little strange” not having the three big names in the dressing room. But now, he understands that he needs to take more responsibility as he can’t live in the shadows of the three. He must step up. And he has. Since the England tour, Rahul has averaged 57.45 in their absence. In Ahmedabad for the IND vs WI 1st Test, Rahul notched up his third hundred of 2025.
“I don’t know if it’s happened organically, but I’ve generally not thought too much about it. Of course, I miss having those two or three senior guys around in the dressing room—most of my Test career has been with them. When I walked into the dressing room in England and saw Rohit, Virat, and Ashwin not around, it felt a little strange because they had always been there,” KL Rahul told JioHotstar at the post-match show.
A knock of the highest order! KL Rahul celebrates a superb Test hundred Updates https://t.co/MNXdZcelkD#INDvWI | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @klrahul pic.twitter.com/Q7r5Xj1sup— BCCI (@BCCI) October 3, 2025
Absence of the Big Three
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin played 46 Test matches together for India since 2013, winning 27 of them. Among those 46 Tests, KL Rahul 17 of them, sharing the dressing room with them since his Test debut in 2014. For long, Rahul was shielded.
Outside India, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli played a big role in winning matches for India. At home. Ashwin spun a web around batters to win India matches. In those, Rahul’s mediocre stats went unnoticed for most part. His constant shift in batting position also did not help his case. With inconsistent batting position, came inconsistent results. He went on to slam 9 Test centuries outside India. But at home, the century in Ahmedabad was his only second, after a gap of nine years.
But with the three gone, he has found some stability, or more importantly some clarity from the coach Gautam Gambhir and new captain Shubman Gill. Hence, in England when Rahul felt a little strange without the Big Three, he also knew it was time to step up. As a senior player, it was time for Rahul to protect the youngsters like once Kohli-Rohit-Ashwin did. Gambhir and Gill also sent clear messages to Rahul on what was expected of KL Rahul.
“Somewhere along the way, you get the sense that, as a senior player, you need to step up and take a bit more responsibility so that the younger guys can focus on their cricket without feeling burdened. Even the way Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill have started talking to me has been slightly different, which gives you that sense that you need to step up and try to fill in some big boots. At the end of the day, though, I just try to do my job. I’m happy that I’m doing it well so far,” KL Rahul said.
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