Cricket News

India star wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul sheds light on his tumultuous journey in soul-searching interview after SA century

The year 2023 proved to be a tumultuous one for Indian cricketer KL Rahul. From being sidelined in the T20I squad to facing harsh criticism after the World Cup final, Rahul’s journey has been a rollercoaster ride of challenges and triumphs. KL Rahul’s troubles commenced with his inconsistent performances during the 2022 T20 World Cup, resulting in his exclusion from the T20I side at the beginning of 2023.

A string of low scores during the home Border-Gavaskar trophy led Rahul to lose his place in the test-playing XI too further adding to his woes in the early part of the year. Rahul assumed his wicketkeeping duties in ODIs following Rishabh Pant’s unfortunate car accident, showing his versatility on the field. Following this, a hamstring injury during IPL 2023 dashed Rahul’s hopes of representing India in the World Test Championship final, resulting in a significant loss against Australia.

As the saying goes, it’s not how you fall but how many times you get up which shows your resilience and displays your true character. Rahul’s return during the Asia Cup 2023 highlighted his impressive wicketkeeping skills telling the critics why the management was backing him despite his average performances in marquee events. Since then KL Rahul didn’t look back and had a sensational ODI World Cup with both the bat and wicketkeeping gloves and the recent century against South Africa on a difficult pitch was a testament to Rahul’s gritty character and solid technique.

‘Three-four months ago everybody was abusing me’- KL Rahul on recent form

Reflecting on his performances in a recent interview KL Rahul highlighted the challenges and criticisms he had to face and emphasized the impact of social media on a player’s mental state. In the interview, the 31-year-old batter said, “It is difficult, obviously,” Rahul said of handling what is said about him.

“You have your own personality, personality traits, characteristics. When you play international cricket, they all get challenged. As a person, as a cricketer, as an individual, you are challenged each day, each moment. Social media is a pressure. Today I have scored a hundred, so people are singing and handling praises. Three to four months ago, everybody was abusing me. It’s part of the game, but I can’t say it doesn’t affect you; it does. The sooner you realise that staying away from it is good for your game and your mindset the better it is.”

He further added, “You can perform or you can be in a better mindset if you slightly know where to draw the line. Nobody’s that great that they can completely avoid what has been said and the criticism they’re getting. It does affect each person. And anyone who says that doesn’t affect them at all, I’m sure is lying.

But each person has to find their way. And for me, when I was injured and was away from the game for such a long time, I worked on myself. I tried to go back to the person that I am and worked on how I don’t change myself by getting affected by these things. It is difficult to remain true to yourself and true to your personality with so much happening. It is the hardest thing.

“But like anything else in cricket, like anything else in life, there’s, there are ways to work on it. Some people can help you if your mind is open. So that’s what I did when I was out of the game. I worked on myself and then worked on remaining calmer and taking care of my head. And what happens inside as well,”