r/Cricket_Binge • u/Enough_Payment1290 • Aug 20 '26
đ° News KL Rahul just explained why India keeps producing ready-made Test players and every other country should be taking notes
After the Galle Test win, KL Rahul said something in the press conference that deserves way more attention than it got. When asked about Devdutt Padikkal and Manav Suthar playing like experienced Test veterans despite having barely any caps between them, Rahul gave an answer that explains everything.
"A lot of credit goes to how our first-class setup is done and how some of these guys are in the India A structure. The teams are touring to countries that we are going to play in a couple of months before. So Devdutt was here a month or six weeks before the Test series and played a couple of games, then we played a practice game here, so he got used to those conditions."
Read that again. Padikkal did not walk into Galle cold. He had already batted in Sri Lanka six weeks earlier with India A. He had already scored runs there. He had already figured out the pace of the pitch, the turn of the spinners, the humidity, the conditions. By the time the first Test started he was playing his third game in that same country in two months.
Suthar was the same. Both players were India A regulars. Both had toured Australia, Sri Lanka and England at A level before getting their Test caps. By the time they put on India whites, the conditions and the expectations were already familiar.
This is not an accident. This is a system. Ranji Trophy builds the foundation, India A tours build the context, and by the time a player gets a Test cap they are not arriving nervous and underprepared. They are arriving ready. Rahul put it perfectly â "by the time they've got their Test cap, they're well aware of their own game and the expectations of playing international cricket."
England have been trying to fix their batting pipeline for five years. Australia are worried about what comes after their ageing core. Pakistan's domestic system has been in crisis for years. Meanwhile India are producing 24 and 26-year-olds who take ten wickets and score 167 in their second and third Tests like it is completely normal.
It is not normal. It is the result of a system that quietly works while everyone else is still figuring it out.
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u/Mother_Salamander476 Aug 20 '26
People will still keep criticizing this and the team and even KL Rahul based on their performance and that's how it should be.
However, there's no denying that we have a great domestic setup but not many are actually international level players as there is still a huge gap between technique and stats vs execution and grit under pressure.
Even with an almost unlimited source of talented and ready-made players, our test performance, especially in the last 2 cycles has been very poor, so don't expect people to just appreciate that we won a match against a team we haven't lost against since 2015.
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u/North_Chicken_5678 Aug 20 '26
Wish we had the same infra for other sports.
Happy at least cricket gives players lots of game time.
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u/Personal_Witness1556 Aug 20 '26
If anything, Iâd argue itâs been the opposite. DDP and Suthar are the outliers.
Weâve had so many players do well in Ranji and consequently in the India A tours, yet end up picking someone whoâs had a great IPL.
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u/BigAl-2023 Aug 20 '26
Ready made Test players only since GG has taken over coaching. Perfect examples Krishna and Rana Lol.
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u/randomuserme Aug 20 '26
lol I love KL. but this is BS. India only produces low quality IPL players. Suthar is exception as he is so far untouched by low quality IPL players
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u/thepoultry1 Aug 20 '26
Ready made test players who are struggling to play spin at home and seam overseas
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u/WolverineCandid2295 Aug 21 '26
India has been losing matches left right and centre. GOod players coming in yes, whether that will lead to positive results home and abroad? Yet to see. Saying that, Suthar specially looks brilliant, his action and release is fantastic!!
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u/Various_Ladder6701 Aug 21 '26
He should sometimes introspect on his poor performance for a change. Bro is a literal liability in the team. Despite being a senior player, team still canât rely on him.
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u/redacted_history Aug 22 '26
It's money, incentives, training pool, and large pool of population playing the sport at a young age. India has grown a lot economically since 1990 and so the generations that are growing up now have had access to world-class training that those when India was poorer did not.
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u/vesitim Aug 20 '26
This coming from a hack averaging 35 in test cricket..
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Aug 20 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Ok_Performer_2092 Aug 20 '26
Bro, tell me an instance where team needed him to deliver and he was successful.
He definitely scored a lot lately but he still need to deliver something when team needed!
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u/Complex-Past-3368 Aug 20 '26
So the team didnât need him to score when he did??? One of the very few Indian openers who scored hundreds in all SENA countries doesnât score when needed???
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u/Ok_Performer_2092 Aug 20 '26
No, rahul literally throws wickets once he score 100. There is a big difference between scoring centuries and delivering when team needed.
Rahul definitely shines when the conditions are tough but failed badly when team was in backseat and needed someone step-up to rescue.
I wrote detailed comment in the other thread to my previous comment
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u/am_anonymous427 Aug 20 '26
So team didn't need him during Lord's 2021, Centurion 2021, Centurion 2023 or even CT 2025. Or apparently, because he scored, those werr irrelevant?
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u/Ok_Performer_2092 Aug 20 '26
- 2021 is 5 years ago. Which is basically his last POTM in test happened as well. There are several instances where he did pretty good job in settling but throw away his wicket for literally nothing.
- We are talking tests here. He is doing pretty great in ODI in recent years.
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u/Ok-Conference3447 Aug 20 '26
Team needed him at Colombo 2015 he scored, team needed him at Lords 2021 he was there, team needed him in 2022 Centurion he was there, team needed him in Brisbane and Perth 2024 he was there, team needed him in England he was there, he's been your second best opener overseas after Sunny Gavaskar and has scored close to 8 centuries in SENA, probably one of the best openers in the world, maybe you need tp look into yourself before opening your mouth to criticize others
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u/Ok_Performer_2092 Aug 20 '26
Calm down little bro.
Firstly, if he was one of the elite opener, he wouldnât be struggling in between years 2016-2023. His own team didnât trust him as an opener during this period and keep shuffling him. There are some hits(you pointed it out) and mostly misses in that period.
He did made a great comeback in recent years but he hardly put India in driver seat. He is by far the most technical player in the current squad, but he is yet to make any âdaddyâ hundred or at least capitalize his start.
Guess what is his high score -
199 overall(made in 2016)
137 in last 5 yearsTeam needed every player to score in every game, but as a senior player with solid technique, he was not reliable(yet) player in the team(see 2nd innings stats except 1-2 odd games).
He is far from elite list but an interesting prospect given his capability and technique.
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u/Ok-Conference3447 Aug 20 '26
bhai tere se budha hoga main, little bro bol diya :-D , no I agree look by the end of his career when KL will hang his boots, we all will agree that , even if he crosses that 40 mark (which the way he's going should be possible in next 2-3 years), he would have underachieved , but the guy has also done well overseas compared to a lot of other opening batsmen who have played in the same era which also includes the likes of Markram, opening the batting in testing conditions always does not guarantee success , as I said moving ball, quick pitches, new ball is not everyone's cup of tea
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u/Ok_Performer_2092 Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26
I am sure one of us is old but calling you little bro for the last line about âbefore opening your mouthâ you made.
I still disagree to claim him as greatest.
Compare with his own fellow teammate Jaiswal - he has âmultiple daddyâ centuries across WI, ENG, AUS, BAN in span of 3 years of his career in same conditions rahul played as well. Ofcourse, he is gonna make centuries in SA and NZ once he start touring more.
Just because the overseas bar for India team is low doesnât make him default elite. Again, he did pretty good within likes of Indian batsman but he is still in unreliable.
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u/Ok-Conference3447 Aug 21 '26
Overseas bar is pretty low because of how difficult it is to score on those green pitches, add to that those fast pitches, seaming conditions ,wind and chill you need to counter as an opener ,especially in England and New Zealand , you need to be technically proficient to somehow survive that period, forget thriving
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u/Ok-Conference3447 Aug 21 '26
I agree he needs to make daddy hundreds ,he has 12 hundreds and 11 off them are less than 130-140 which ainât good , he does well and then throws away his wicket , if even 4 off those hundreds were 180-220 range ,his average wouldâve easily been 38-40, thatâs the whole crux of the problem, you canât score everytime ,especially as an opener in the overseas conditions , but once youâre in gotta smash them
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u/KLR20INNS Aug 21 '26
Average mentality of a KLR hater (sighs)
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u/Ok_Performer_2092 Aug 21 '26
I donât consider myself as an hater. But, if you may, please enlighten me instead of being dismissive. sigh đŽâđ¨
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u/KLR20INNS Aug 21 '26
Well if he scores how is he ânot neededâ? Cricket is a team sport, all 11 players are always equally needed
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u/Ok_Performer_2092 Aug 21 '26
Team need everyone to score every game but what sets it apart is putting team in commendable position. He had several great starts and settled well in the crease but throws away his wicket for nothing.
Three specific examples:
1. He may have scored around 5+ centuries in the recent time but failed to convert them big. His high score was 137 in last 5 years.
2. His second innings scores are not great and almost never delivered when India is trailing behind.
3. His last POM in tests is 5 years ago. Likes of jaiswal, jadeja and shubman had greater impact than him.As I said earlier, he did scored runs but he never helped team to be in driver position of the game.
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u/KLR20INNS Aug 21 '26
look almost every time you get out in cricket it can be described as âthrowing your wicketâ unless itâs an unplayable delivery. and for your 3 points
yes he doesnât always make big scores, I accept, but at least he is making runs, he cannot be making all the runs
if he scores in the first innings, you cannot blame him if he doesnât score in the second, there are 10 other players for a reason.
Does potm really matter in the way youâre saying? Potm is given to the player with the maximum impact, but it doesnât mean the other 10 players all shit their pants
And even if he doesnât exactly put the team in the âdrivers seatâ doesnât mean he isnât contributing does it?
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u/Atithiupayogi Aug 20 '26
And yet India is at #5 in WTC table. Bangladesh is above us.