2019 suspension changed my thought process as a player, shares KL Rahul
Rahul was at his sublime best against NZ last February
|KL Rahul has spoken about the 2019 'KWK Talk Show Controversy' and how the subsequent suspension by the BCCI changed his thought process, making him a team man. Rahul, one of the best T20I openers in the world now, has also stated that Rohit Sharma has always backed him to the tilt.
Undergoing a wretched run of form in the 2018-19 season, KL Rahul looked devastatingly out of form against Australia and was subsequently replaced by his best friend Mayank Agarwal for the MCG Test against in 2018. Adding insult to the injury, Star World decided to run “Koffee with Karan” in the last week of December 2018 where some controversial comments passed by Hardik Pandya put both the Baroda man and Rahul in a bad light, due to which the Committee of Administrators banned the duo for a brief period of time.
When he eventually returned, Rahul, in his own words, was a completely changed person and now, in an interview with Boria Majumdar, he spoke about the changes to his mental side of things after the controversy and the suspension that followed.
"A lot of credit for my consistent performance goes to how differently I started thinking after 2019. With this suspension and with all that happened, I was tempted or I was in a way wanting to be selfish and play for myself, and I failed. So I told myself I need to go out and do what the team wants me to do," Rahul told 'India Today'.
"We all know our careers are not too long and I realised after 2019 that I probably have a good 12 or 11 years left in me and I need to dedicate all my time and energy towards becoming a player and team man. That mind-shift really helped and took a lot of pressure off me when I started focusing on wanting to do better for the team and be a part of champion teams and make a difference in the game."
Rahul, even though he went through a bad run of form, was always backed by the Indian team management, comprising Virat Kohli, Ravi Shastri and Rohit Sharma. Rohit recently passed on a comment that Rahul is the first opening name on the sheet and it is then a choice between him and Shikhar Dhawan. Rahul stated that it was too generous of Rohit to say such a thing and thanked the Mumbaikr for backing him during times when very few did.
"Humbled by Rohit's words. I have been a huge fan of his batting and I have played with him for a few years now. He is someone who is in the team, how do I say, like some cricketers get dumbstruck after watching Sachin Tendulkar, they don't know what to say. When I am with Rohit off he field, I am still not able to get through," Rahul said.
"He is someone in the team who has given me the sense that he has a lot of faith in me and as a senior player, I have seen that he has backed me and stood by me on a lot of instances. When senior players feel like there is a guy who can take responsibility, a player who has not played consistently for the country, it gives a lot of confidence."
