'He’ll go out to bat and return to the pavilion immediately' - R Ashwin’s interesting take on KL Rahul after India's win vs Afghanistan

Ravichandran Ashwin dissected why KL Rahul's Test average is only in the mid-30s despite being in stellar form since last year. The legendary off-spinner's assessment came after India's comprehensive win by an innings and 300 runs against Afghanistan in the one-off Test at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.

Rahul scored 100 off 165 balls in the first innings, hitting 11 gorgeous boundaries. This was Rahul's fourth century in the longest format of the game in his 20th innings since the start of last year. In 2025, his Test average was an impressive 45.16. However, his overall Test average is only 36.42.

Ashwin said that it stems from Rahul's dismal outings when he wasn't in form. The former Punjab Kings' captain mentioned that when the 34-year-old isn't doing well, he gets out for single-digit scores, and that's what has prevented him from having a healthy overall Test average.

"Many people defend him by saying his average is low because of the tough wickets overseas. But what I've noticed with KL is that when he is going through a bad pitch, he won't score a run. All he'll do is go out to bat and return to the pavilion immediately. A Virat Kohli, even when out of form, will register scores like 30, 33, 43, 28. But KL will either score between 0 and 10 or above 50 a lot," Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

"When he's locked in, he's fully locked in, but when he's not, he's not. He has only these two modes. I've not seen that middle mode with KL. But over the last couple of years, he has shown incredible maturity in terms of understanding his game."

"Don't dismiss the knock as one against Afghanistan" - R Ashwin on KL Rahul's latest century

Ashwin urged everyone to appreciate Rahul's knock and not disregard it because it came against Afghanistan, who are still finding its feet in the red-ball arena. The cricketer-turned-expert predicted strong showings from Rahul at the back end of his international career.

"Don't dismiss the knock as one against Afghanistan. Give him credit for this at the moment, as anyway you are all going to criticize him in the future," said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).

"Rahul has been extraordinary in the last 18 months. He has been in the form of his life, irrespective of what the averages show. And it's been across formats. He is now looking really locked in for a good few years towards the backend of his career."