It was at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow where, six months ago, KL Rahul suffered an injury that left him needing surgery and missing a considerable amount of international cricket. Now, back as a regular part of the Indian team, Rahul could afford to joke about it, albeit wryly.
“I am trying to forget; you are reminding me again and again,” said Rahul light-heartedly when he was asked about it in the pre-match press conference on the eve of India’s clash against England.
“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.
Putting such negative thoughts have been a part of the work he’s done while tackling a difficult year overall, admitted Rahul. In a candid revelation, he shared that mental conditioning has been a big part of his preparations in recent times.
“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.
It follows skipper Rohit Sharma’s acknowledgement that staying away from social media was a part of his own process. Rahul echoed the thoughts. “Same,” he said and added, “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.”
The environment within the team, Rahul revealed, was also helpful in them taking big strides in the ongoing World Cup
“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.”
For him, the additional spice in India’s campaign has come about as a result of the methodical composition of the team and their strategies.
“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.”
At a personal level, Rahul’s contributions with the bat might not yet have been needed too often following his starring role in the win against Australia, but he’s caught the eye with his skills behind the stumps, which he alluded was the biggest part of his comeback trail after recovering from the injury.
“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.
Another tick in the box that Rahul feels would be needed for India is to showcase their prowess while batting first. So far they’ve won five out of five games while chasing, and Rahul looked forward to the other side of it.
“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.”
