‘I was s****ing myself’: KL Rahul after leading India’s Champions Trophy final chase | Cricket News

After sealing a second knockout chase within a week, India wicket-keeper KL Rahul admitted the pressure of a Champions Trophy final eventually got to him. After seeing out New Zealand in a 252-run chase with his unbeaten 34 off 33 deliveries, Rahul said that he “s*****g” himself out in the middle.
India went from a position of 183 for three to 203 for five before Rahul stepped up to quell the nerves and help India record their third Champions Trophy title.
“Not sure I can say this on air but I was s**** myself. As confident as I could be that I could get over the line. Keeping composure is all that matters, happy to have done it this time. I’ve batted in times like this in three out of the five games,” Rahul said in a post-match chat after India secured a four-wicket win.
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Rahul was at the fore of India’s semi-final chase against Australia earlier this week. Chasing a record 265-run total, India had similarly slipped to 178 for four before Rahul’s nerveless unbeaten 42 helped India go past the world champions. Rahul then secured the victory with a six off Glenn Maxwell in the penultimate over.

“Hard to put in words, but the team has pure skill. The way we’ve all had to play cricket growing up, we faced pressure from the time we became professional cricketers. The BCCI have groomed all of them and we’ve challenging ourselves to get better,” Rahul said after being a part of an ICC title win for the first time in his career.
The 32-year-old Rahul had previously found himself under pressure and scrutiny to maintain his spot, especially after being demoted from his regular No. 5 spot to accomodate the left-handed Axar Patel.
“Honestly, I mean it’s since 2020 I’ve batted at No.5 and a lot of times people forget that that’s where I’ve been batting,” Rahul had said after the semi-final win. “And every time I perform in a series and then there’s a break from ODI series, ODI cricket and then we come back after four or five months there’s a question mark again about, ‘oh well will he play in the XI, where does he fit?’ and sometimes I’m sitting there thinking what more can I do. Everywhere that I’ve been asked to play I’ve played and I feel like I have performed my role,” remarked Rahul.