Indian Opener Reaches 500 Runs, Powers Team India’s Day 4 Comeback at Old Trafford
July 27, 2025, in Manchester, UK: KL Rahul has had a great series! The Indian opener has just made history by becoming only the second Asian opener to score 500 runs in a Test series played in England. This amazing accomplishment puts him on par with the great Sunil Gavaskar, who scored 542 runs in 1979. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s only the second visiting opener this century to do something like that on English soil. The first was South Africa’s Graeme Smith, who scored a huge 714 runs in 2003.
Rahul reached this very important milestone with his important innings in the Fourth Test of the “Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy” right here in Manchester. So far in this series, he’s been in amazing shape, scoring 508 runs in four games with an average of 72.57. This includes two great centuries and two hard-fought fifties.
Rahul and Gill’s partnership helps India get through tough times.
Not only did Rahul do heroic things on Day 4. He stayed unbeaten on 87, which was a big part of India’s great comeback in their second innings. His amazing 174-run partnership with Indian captain Shubman Gill (who ended with a great 78* not out) was very important. This stand allowed Team India get back on track after a rough start and end Day 4 at 174/2, still 137 runs behind England. It was an amazing turnaround, especially since India lost both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudarshan for ducks in the first over!
What else made their partnership so great? In the last two sessions of the day, England’s bowlers couldn’t get a single wicket. This was the first time in the whole series that a pair of batsmen were able to bat through two whole periods in an innings. This shows how focused and determined they were. Rahul also reached another personal milestone during his knock: he crossed 9000 runs in international cricket across all formats.
Gill and Rahul’s Masterclass: Inside the Day’s Action
India began the third session of Day 4 with a lot of load on their shoulders, and a score of 86/2. But both Gill and Rahul did a great job. Shubman Gill seemed completely at ease as he hit his eighth Test half-century, his fourth against England, off just 77 balls. His innings was a pleasure to see, with eight beautiful boundaries that showed off his great control and strong intent. He was hitting 52 off 80 balls when their partnership really started to take off.
KL Rahul, on the other hand, was calm and played the right supporting role. He stayed unbroken at 30, hitting two boundaries throughout that time of play and slowly building his innings. In the 40th over, the two batsmen showed how well they understood each other by putting together a 100-run stand for the third wicket. In the 43rd over, Rahul got his second fifty of the series by pushing the ball for a single off Liam Dawson.
Even though England scored a huge 669 runs in their first innings and had a scary 311-run advantage, Rahul and Gill’s determination has given India a glimmer of hope to win this match on the last day. Now, everyone will be watching them to keep being defiant and for the rest of the batting lineup to stand up when it matters.