KL Rahul produced one of his finest Test innings by scoring his ninth red-ball century. The 33-year-old ended his 18-month wait for a Test hundred with a composed and intelligent knock against England. He had gone 18 months without scoring a Test century, but this time around, he rose to the occasion at the right moment with the team in need. Apart from his batting prowess, Rahul also employed his presence of mind and linguistic knowledge in order to keep England's bowlers in the dark. It was an extremely intelligent act that reflected how well he knows the game. Also Read | Watch: Gavaskar Signals Pant for Somersault After Century vs ENG Rahul's Smart Use of Language India's players normally converse in Hindi when they talk about strategy on the field. But since England's spinner Shoaib Bashir is from a Pakistani family, he knows Hindi. In order not to reveal any strategy, Rahul did not communicate in Hindi or English when Bashir was bowling. Instead, he communicated in other Indian languages based on with whom he was batting. This brilliant move kept the plans of the Indian team secret and made it more difficult for Bashir to catch any hint. Also Read | Watch: Rahul Tells Pant ‘Watch the Ball’, His Reply is Pure Gold Rahul Switches to Kannada and Tamil Dinesh Karthik said, "KL Rahul speaking with Karun Nair in Kannada. He was talking with Sai Sudharsan in Tamil and Rishabh Pant in Hindi earlier. He's not only versatile with the bat". pic.twitter.com/uHf9cRnzjQ — Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 23, 2025 When Rahul was playing with Karun Nair, he used Kannada because both of them belong to Bengaluru and have played together at the state level. This enabled them to talk freely without revealing anything to Bashir. Earlier during the game, when Sai Sudharsan arrived to bat, Rahul chatted with him in Tamil. Sudharsan, who looked uncertain after scoring zero in the first innings, became more composed after Rahul's conversation. Their conversation, which was heard on the stump mic, revealed Rahul's intelligent thinking and a responsible attitude as a senior player of the side. Rahul’s brilliant knock and use of language have earned praise from fans across the country. His strategy helped reduce Bashir’s impact, as the bowler gave away 89 runs and picked up only one wicket of Rishabh Pant, that too after the batter did a lot of damage.