‘I thought it won’t affect me’: KL Rahul reveals seeking help from mental coach to shun the outside noise | Cricket-world-cup News

KL Rahul says he has become more “thick-skinned” since he has started taking professional help to shun the “outside noise,” and reveals taking a leaf out of the skipper Rohit Sharma’s book not using “social media” much for the past few months.“I have put a lot of effort into 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,” Rahul told reporters in Lucknow.
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“I tried to work on that side. Mentally you need to get a lot stronger, a lot more thick-skinned. So yeah, that really helped me being away from the game. There are specials, batting specials, bowling specials, there are special mental coaches that you can really use and can work with if you feel that it will help. So, I tried a bit of everything,” he added.
Rahul, who captains Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL, admitted that returning to Lucknow ahead of India’s fixture against England has been bittersweet since it was the same ground where he went down injured and then hobbled off the field.
“Mai bhoolna chahta hoon magar log bhoolne nahi dete (I want to forget about it but people keep reminding me about it),” said Rahul.
“Yesterday when I came to the ground, my 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.
“The injury that I had, it kept me out of the game for four or five months. That was a tough time. Whoever has an injury, if you ask anyone – they undergo surgery and to come back, it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of patience and you have to go through that which is not very easy,” he said.
During the Asia Cup, Rahul in his interview with BCCI.Tv had opened about his thigh injury. “I got injured while trying to chase a ball and my tendon snapped. I had a full-fledged tear, my tendon ripped apart from my quadricep.”
Rahul also spoke about how he has worked more on his keeping than batting, in the process of getting fitter.
“During my rehab, I have worked harder on my keeping than my batting. I felt like keeping would require 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.
Rahul made it clear that the think tank is going to back Suryakumar Yadav in the absence of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has hurt his ankle while looking to stop a shot with his leg off his own bowling against Bangladesh in Pune.Most Read
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“Surya will probably get his chance and we know what he can do. So our confidence is in Surya till Hardik comes back … Hardik has been a very important member of the team .. so not having him is also a bit of a miss for the team,” said Rahul.
India, who have been unbeaten in the World Cup, have not batted first so far. All of India’s wins have come while chasing and Rahul said the team would love to test themselves batting first in the remaining matches.
“I think in one game (Australia), we did lose a toss and ended up bowling first. Toss is not something that the captain or the team can control. 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,” he said.