KL Rahul Opens Up On The Pressure He Felt While Keeping Wickets For The First Time In India Colors
Published - 27 Apr 2020, 07:48 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:05 AM
KL Rahul has grown by leaps and bounds, as an international cricketer in the past six-eight months. Rahul endured one of his worst phases of his international career during the 2018-19 season when his technique was found out in English and Australian conditions.
To make matters worse, Rahul got involved in a raging controversy off the field following his participation in the popular chat show alongside Hardik Pandya. The 28-year-old had a decent World Cup campaign but his Test form continued to be woeful. He was dropped from the Test team post the West Indies tour, following which Rahul went back to domestic cricket where he regained his touch courtesy brilliant performances in the Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.
Rahul also kept wickets for his state team, something he has been doing in the past two-three seasons. His brilliant form with the bat and his more than able keeping skills coincided with Rishabh Pant’s dwindling stocks as India’s first-choice keeper. And, soon the Karnataka batsman found himself behind the wickets during the ODI series against Australia.
Read: 2019 World Cup Semi-Final Defeat Still Haunts Us: KL Rahul
“If you a drop a catch..” KL Rahul on the pressure that comes with keeping wickets in the post MS Dhoni-era
In a recent interview, KL Rahul revealed that he is willing to perform any rile for the side but admitted that he was a bit nervous while keeping the wickets for the first time since filling the void left by MS Dhoni is a humongous task.
“People who follow cricket know that I haven’t been away from wicket-keeping for too long as I donned the gloves in the IPL and every time I played for Karnataka. I am always in touch with wicket-keeping. I am also somebody who is more than willing to take up the role if the team needs me to,” Rahul said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
He added: “I was nervous when I was doing it for India because of the crowd pressure. If you fumble a ball, people feel that you cannot replace MS Dhoni. The pressure of replacing a legendary wicket-keeper like MSD was immense as it involved people accepting someone else behind the stumps,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rahul recently raised more than Rs 8 Lakh courtesy the auction of his 2019 World Cup bat and other accessories. Rahul’s bat fetched the maximum amount, going for a whopping Rs 2,64,228.
Also Read: KL Rahul Reveals The Pros And Cons Of Opening In Cricket
