Till around a month back, this wouldn’t have been something that India skipper Virat Kohli or head coach Ravi Shastri would have thought about. Not when Rishabh Pant, or even back-up Sanju Samson, are wicket-keeper batsmen who are known more for their batting than for their keeping. Still, the KL Rahul experiment has begun in right earnest and it has begun on a winning note too.

In the first Twenty20 International against New Zealand at Eden Park, Rahul hardly put a foot wrong. He was solid behind the stumps and rather unstoppable with the bat in hand. If anything, his dismissal after making a brilliant 56 off 27 balls was a tad disappointing because given how he was batting, he could have finished off the game on his own or even got a century.

The reason one still considers Rahul’s dual role to be an experiment is because we can’t quite be sure what the impact could be in the long run. Wicket-keeping can take a lot out of a player and while T20 cricket isn’t as taxing as the other formats, it still could take a toll.

But for now, it seems to be having a positive impact on Rahul.

“I am honestly loving it,” said Rahul after the first T20I. “In the international stage it might look that I am new to wicket-keeping, but I have done this role in domestic cricket. I have done it for my IPL franchise, I enjoy staying behind the stumps.”

Rahul added: “It gives me a great idea of how the pitch is playing then I can pass on the message to the skipper and bowlers. Wicket-keeping requires you to be pro-active. I am enjoying the responsibility.”

Iyer puts his hand up

One of the big beneficiaries of the experiment though is Shreyas Iyer. With Dhawan out injured, India isn’t playing all three openers (Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Rahul) and that allows the 25-year-old from Mumbai to bat at No 4 in the line-up.

It is a role that Iyer seemed to be growing in but for Kohli, the temptation to play the experienced trio of Sharma, Dhawan and Rahul would always be there. But with Dhawan not around, Iyer will have a chance to prove that he might lend greater balance to a top-heavy line-up.

Rahul and Kohli (45 off 32) did the heavy-lifting early on but when they were dismissed within six runs of each other, India were in a spot of bother. But that is precisely where Iyer put his hand up.

A glorious four off the backfoot in the 12th over allowed him to announce himself to New Zealand but for much of the initial period, he didn’t try to do too much. The early blitz gave him time to settle down and he used that buffer period to get his eye in just the way Kohli might have.

It was a sign of him becoming even more assured at this level. The composure shown was important because another wicket would have brought Ravindra Jadeja to the wicket and then the tail to follow.

“We needed one important partnership, the ground was small and in four overs 50 can also be made on this ground, so we decided one boundary an over and then bowler also comes under pressure,” Iyer said of mindset during the stand with Manish Pandey.

Iyer added: “When you hit a six to finish a match, the feeling is special. My aim is to always finish games whatever time I spend on the pitch. We have players like Virat Bhai, Rohit Bhai who finish games and staying with them helps you learn.”

A few poor games could see Kohli go back to Dhawan, but for now Iyer should have earned his skipper’s confidence. His effort on Friday also got him his first Player of the Match award and is surely a sign of things to come.

The KL Rahul experiment is well and truly on and it is a chance for players to stake their claim for a place in the playing XI. Rahul and Iyer did that in more ways than one.