On Sunday, India will face arch-rivals Pakistan in a high-stakes Asia Cup ‘Super 4’ match in Colombo, with KL Rahul within the squad and out there for choice.
Talking about his return from harm in a video posted by the BCCI, Rahul, who may also play the function of wicketkeeper, mentioned, “I am feeling good. It is good to be back with the team. It has been quite some time since I have been away. I am glad everything worked out on schedule, happy I could tick all the boxes.”
Rahul suffered a thigh harm in the course of the IPL season earlier this yr, which led to a nasty tendon tear necessitating surgical procedure.
“I tried chasing a ball, but my tendon snapped. I had a full-fledged tear, my tendon ripped apart from my quadriceps. When it happened, my family, franchise and everyone had their fingers crossed hoping it was not something big, but a small strain that could go in two weeks. But after scans, we realised it was a full tear and it became clear that I could recover from it after going under the knife,” mentioned Rahul.
“It took us a few days to decide where I was supposed to go for surgery and who was the best surgeon and I would like to thank the BCCI, physios and doctors who made sure I got the best treatment and surgery. You need the support of people at such times and I had it,” .
Rahul mentioned that he has realized how one can “respect your body” after it goes by a giant change like a surgical intervention.
“During the surgery, you have to respect that your body has gone through something big, a big repair and you must give it enough time to recover. Skills-wise, I knew I needed just a few weeks to get back in touch. I gave myself 2-3 weeks to get back to playing cricket and get the skill part of it. The big part was to feel confident in my own body, stay pain-free, free in movement that needed a lot of intensity.
“I knew I needed to hold wickets on my comeback. The physios and I have been involved about it and there was a query mark in my head. When you’re squatting down for each ball, it wants plenty of power in your quads. You want your physique to help you and really feel pain-free,” said KL.
He also highlighted the “psychological battle” he had to fight during the recuperation phase.
“Sometimes, you combat a psychological battle the place you’re feeling you may really feel ache and it doesn’t allow you to deal with expertise. Getting over that worry and ache was a very large problem. It can solely occur while you take issues step-by-step. NCA (National Cricket Academy) trainers and physios guided me on when to step up and step down. That is how talent befell. I began sprinting, however throughout that course of I developed a small niggle simply earlier than I may come again, which was a giant downer.
“I was ahead of the schedule and felt I could come back before the Asia Cup and give myself some time. But that niggle pushed me back two weeks. There were ups and downs during recovery. I was ready mentally, this helped me a lot,” he mentioned.
“When I had surgeries and injuries previously, I found myself bored, not knowing what to do, not having any motivation to wake up and do physio. It becomes boring and frustrating. But this time, it did not happen. I do not know what it was, but I managed to get the motivation to do the boring stuff. Being away from the game for such a long time, I wanted to enjoy something as boring as physio, which is not as rewarding as playing a game of cricket.”
“I tried to enjoy each day as it came, it made it easy. It felt that time went by quickly. There were a couple of weeks that felt really long, but mostly it was happening really fast. I was training, improving every day, so I felt motivated to go back and train,” Rahul added.
At the tip of the day, after going by a testing part off the sector, he’s eager to return to the sector and play for the nation as soon as once more.
“Happy to be back in the team, get back that rhythm of playing for 50 overs, 100 overs, wicketkeeping for 50 overs…getting back that adrenaline. We are playing some quality teams in the coming days, I hope all goes well. I am confident, and have prepared well,” mentioned Rahul.
(AI picture)
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com