Enjoying leaving balls outside off stump: Rahul

In what has been one of India's best years of Test cricket, KL Rahul has found himself right in the middle of the openers' roulette, and made the absolute maximum of it. The return to the side in England may have been incidental, but every innings since has been an indication that there's still a competitive multi-format opener in the 29-year-old.

As India arrived in South Africa eyeing a slice of history, be effective, not prettywas the crux of the message passed down to Rahul & Co. from head coach Dravid, who knows a thing or two about the struggles of batting in South Africa. And once Virat Kohli won the toss and saw it fit to put a score on the board in Centurion, Rahul embedded the instruction wholly into his gameplay.

Flair and urgency were seamlessly swapped out for caution and discipline in his batting marathon of six hours spread across Day 1 and 3. Once he got past