(Image Source: AFP)
[Saba Sports News] KL Rahul, who had suffered an injury at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow six months ago, is now back with the Indian team. He made light of the injury, saying, “I am trying to forget; you are reminding me again and again.” Despite his humor, he admitted that the injury was still on his mind but hoped to create better memories to replace it.
“I can’t say that it is not in my mind. Yesterday when I came to the ground, last memory of this ground is that – falling down and injuring myself. Hopefully, I can put that aside and I can make some better and happier memories to forget all of that,” he added.
Mental conditioning has been a significant part of Rahul’s preparation in recent times. He acknowledged that he had to work on it because external pressures began affecting him over the last year. He mentioned that being away from the game allowed him to work on strengthening his mental resilience.
“I have put a lot of effort in this. I tried to address it. Outside noise for a long time, I thought it won’t affect me, but in the last year or so it started affecting me. And then I realised that I will have to work on it. And when I got time, outside of the game, I tried to work on that side – mentally you got to get a lot more stronger, a lot more thick-skinned. So yeah, so that really helped me being away from the game,” said Rahul.
Rahul echoed Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s approach of staying away from social media as a part of his own process to maintain focus. He also mentioned utilizing specialists, including mental coaches, to improve his mental toughness.
“I think that is just one thing [fielding medal videos] that you are seeing or the fans outside are seeing, they are getting to see a version of cricketers that maybe they have not seen before but one thing is that since I have returned to the team from Asia Cup, the environment has been such that everyone is enjoying cricket. Everyone is in a very happy state of mind. We know that whenever we cross the boundary line, there will be pressure. But the best thing we can do is outside of the field. [we can] still try and enjoy ourselves and try to be as calm as possible.”
Rahul praised the team’s environment, where everyone is enjoying cricket and remaining in a happy state of mind, even under pressure.
India’s confidence in the ongoing World Cup has come from their aggressive approach, meticulous preparations, and players having the opportunity to spend time in their specific roles.
“I think it’s just how we’ve been really aggressive. And also, our preparations have been really, really good, and very particular, very spot on from the time at least I’ve come back into the team since the Asia Cup. “I think the players have gotten enough chances and enough time in their particular role. So, yeah, that again, I think goes down to preparation. We’ve prepared really well. So that’s where the confidence is coming from.”
On a personal level, Rahul highlighted his improved wicket-keeping skills and noted that he had put in extra effort on this aspect during his recovery. He emphasized the importance of having proper technique and glove work in Indian conditions.
“During the process of getting fitter as well, I did focus a lot on wicket keeping along with my batting. The medical team at the NCA felt like – with the kind of injury I had, the difficult part would be wicket keeping more than the batting. The things that I’ve worked much more harder on are my is my fitness and my wicket keeping. Then came batting so it was in that order. So, I did work a lot on my wicket-keeping there and yeah, even when I’ve come back here, I’ve spent a lot of time wicket-keeping. I feel like that requires a bit more time and effort from my side.”
“Yeah, so it’s as simple as any other skill. The more you do, the harder you work on it, you have the best chance to do well and I am taking wicket-keeping seriously because in India in these conditions it will be important to have your technique right, to have your glove work right and so I am trying to tick all of those boxes so I can do my best as a wicket-keeper as well,” he said.
Rahul also mentioned India’s desire to showcase their batting prowess while setting targets, as they have been successful in chasing targets so far in the tournament.
“So whatever opportunities we’ve gotten we’ve done well but again it will be a good opportunity if we get to bat first before the next stage and in the next four games if we can get to bat first it’ll be a good challenge for us to just see how to pace the innings and it’s been some time since we’ve batted first, so it will be useful for the team.”