Following an almost four-month injury layoff, KL Rahul made a pretty good comeback on the cricket, scoring a 54 on the first day of the two-day practise tie against Sri Lanka Board President’s XI but the India opener has said that he has still not regained full confidence.
Rahul was in sizzling form before the injury as he had scored 6 half-centuries in the Border-Gavaskar series before a shoulder injury forced him to take an unwanted break from the game. A subsequent surgery followed which made him miss the Indian Premier League and the ICC Champions Trophy which would have been his first ICC tournament. And although the right-handed batsman has regained full fitness, he is still not there mentally. Rahul admitted that he is still short on confidence but insisted he would overcome it.
“Yes, I am [nervous]. The body is still very unsure and it keeps holding me back every time. That’s the biggest challenge coming back from injury,” Rahul said after the first day’s play on Friday (July 21).
“You know that you are physically fit and you have done everything that you can, worked really hard, you are feeling stronger, you are feeling fitter. But the mind always tells you what if it happens again, what if you have to go through the same grind for three months, what if your shoulder is not ready, what if you came back early. The fear is obviously there but I will fight it and I will overcome that,” he added.
The entertaining 58-ball 54 runs knock would have been enough to assure Rahul that he has not lost his form and the Karnataka star said it was the happiest moment of his life.
“I haven’t been happier ever in my life. It has been quite a tough time to be away from cricket, to be away from the thing that you love the most. I was middling the ball from ball one, hit a few boundaries, rotated the strike and not a lot of balls beat my bat. Playing in the nets is an entirely different thing and going out there in the middle is a completely different challenge,” Rahul said.