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After Tamil, KL Rahul Speaks In Kannada With Karun Nair To Keep Shoaib Bashir Guessing

Abhinav Tyagi

KL Rahul Speaks In Kannada - (Source : @Johns/X.com)KL Rahul Speaks In Kannada - (Source : @Johns/X.com)

KL Rahul has played one of the finest knocks of his Test career, slamming his ninth Test century. The 33-year-old, who had struggled for a red-ball hundred over the last 18 months, ended the drought with a gritty performance against England.

It was a tactical innings by Rahul, who not only deceived the bowlers with his bat but also used his multilingual abilities to keep team strategies hidden from Pakistan-origin bowler Shoaib Bashir.

KL Rahul Uses Multi-lingual Abilities To His Fullest

Notably, Indian players usually communicate in Hindi to avoid revealing their plans to the opposition. However, Shoaib Bashir is the only player in the England team who understands Hindi and could potentially share India’s tactics with his teammates.

Thus, whenever Bashir came on to bowl, Rahul opted for a third language—neither Hindi nor English—to communicate with his batting partners.

Rahul Speaks in Kannada with Karun Nair

At the time of writing, KL Rahul is batting alongside Karun Nair. As soon as Shoaib Bashir began his spell, Rahul switched to Kannada—since both he and Nair hail from Bengaluru and have played a lot of cricket together at the state level.

Fans have praised Rahul for his quick thinking, which has contributed to Bashir struggling against India. The bowler has conceded 89 runs with just one wicket—that of Rishabh Pant—to his name.

Rahul Converses in Tamil with Sai Sudharsan

This was not the first time in this Test that KL Rahul chose a third language over Hindi and English. Earlier, when Sai Sudharsan came to bat early in the second innings, Rahul spoke to him in Tamil.

Sudharsan, who scored a duck in the first innings, was struggling for confidence. To help him relax without revealing any plans, Rahul had a calming chat with him in Tamil—a conversation that was also picked up by the stump mic.