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India opener KL Rahul revealed the reason behind his unique celebration after scoring his first home Test century in nine years on Day 2 of the opening Test against the West Indies in Ahmedabad on Friday, October 3. The right-handed batter dedicated his 11th Test hundred to his daughter.

Rahul compiled 100 runs from 197 balls, hitting 12 boundaries. During his innings, he formed partnerships of 68 and 98 runs with Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Shubman Gill for the first and third wickets, respectively. To mark his century, he celebrated by blowing a whistle.

Notably, KL Rahul and his wife, Athiya Shetty, became parents to their daughter, Evaarah, on March 24 this year. In a post-Day 2 interview, KL Rahul shared (as reported by Cricbuzz):

“It was for my daughter.”

You can watch the video here:

KL Rahul Reveals Technical Adjustments, Focuses On Strike Rotation In Home Test vs West Indies

The Karnataka-born cricketer also discussed the technical changes he has made while batting at home against the West Indies, following his performances in England earlier this year. The 33-year-old explained that he is concentrating more on rotating the strike on home pitches. He added in the same conversation:

“(Why it is only his 2nd hundred at home?) Not sure really. But yeah, somehow I think the only thing that I’ve worked on in the last year or so has been maintaining my batting tempo. Just enjoying the phases that are not as exciting for me in my own head.”

He further continued:

“Obviously, when you travel abroad and play seaming swinging conditions with extra bounce, there’s a lot of challenge doing that. And when you come back home, when there are 3 spinners playing and the field’s spread out, you really need to get your runs with singles. The boundaries don’t come that easily.”

“So yeah, that’s something that I’ve worked on and needed to make that mental switch to enjoy doing that, enjoy grinding and getting 100s with singles and twos as well. So that’s something that I’ve worked on in the last year or so. And yeah, I think that’s the only difference that I can see, and probably that’s what I wasn’t doing that well previously when I played at home,” Rahul added.

This article first appeared on Cricfit and was syndicated with permission.

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