Shutting the Outside Noise ft. KL Rahul

On May 1 this year, KL Rahul injured his thigh while fielding for Lucknow Super Giants in their IPL contest vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in Lucknow. The right-hander hobbled off the field in pain but did return to bat in the modest chase and later had to play peacemaker after tempers flared between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq, and also involved LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir.

Since the eventful night in the heat of May, Rahul missed a lot of cricket – the remainder of IPL 2023, WTC final, the tour of West Indies and Ireland – but regained fitness before the start of the Asia Cup. A fresh niggle extended his wait but he was back on the field after Shreyas Iyer got last-moment back spasms before the clash vs Pakistan.

A dazzling hundred and Rahul returned like he never left. The middle-order, which was craving stability and fluidity in his absence, started to get a dominating shape in the Asia Cup and there has been no looking back since then.

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During the time away from cricket, Rahul could do nothing but wait and all this happened after he lost his Test vice-captaincy, spot in the XI to Shubman Gill and became a punching bag on social media.

Returning “thick-skinned"

For years now, Rahul had been celebrating personal milestones with a ‘fingers in the ears’ celebration but he was unable to shut the outside noise and it started affecting him “in the last year or so". The injury lay-off would have been frustrating but allowed the 31-year-old to work on the mental side and has made him “thick-skinned".

“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 realized 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," says Rahul at the pre-match presser.

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Like his captain Rohit Sharma, staying away from social media and a “bit of everything" helped Rahul to work on the space between the two ears and return a mentally stronger athlete.

“Same (on staying away from social media), that and then there are specialists, batting specialists, bowling specialists, there are specialist mental coaches that you can really use and work on if you feel that it will help. So, I tried a bit of everything," adds Rahul.

The work on wicket-keeping

Apart from the mental aspect, getting back to wicket-keeping was another challenge. The thigh injury meant the road to recovery and match fitness wasn’t going to be an easy one and required extra attention towards fitness.

“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," reveals Rahul.

Even this World Cup, Rahul has walked the wicket-keeping talk and devoted a lot of time to drills during the team’s net sessions. He divides his sessions in a manner where no aspect of his game – batting, fitness and wicket-keeping – goes unaddressed and the results are for everyone to see. May it be donning the gloves in Chennai heat and then returning to bat for a long time or the sharp catch in the game vs Bangladesh, the stumper continues to tick the right boxes with both bat and gloves (read wicket-keeping).

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“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," says Rahul.

“Happier memories… “

Nearly six months after that fall, Rahul has now returned to the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow to make “happier memories". During his first run at the venue, the painful flashback happened and did leave a bittersweet taste in the mouth.

“I entered the ground today and I had to do some running," Rahul told BCCI.tv after India’s first training session at the venue.

“I told my trainer, Rajini sir that my heart is racing, because the last time I was here, I had not such a great experience, or not such a great moment in my career. It was a bit bittersweet," added the classy right-hander.

Rahul admitted that he is “trying to forget" the incident and just wants to focus on making “happier memories" with the Indian cricket team.

“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," says Rahul.