Support from Virat Kohli, team kept me motivated during injury, says KL Rahul

India opener KL Rahul, who returned to the playing XI after a long battle with injury, said captain Virat Kohli’s backing has been a big difference and support from everyone in the team made a lot of difference when he was away from the game due to shoulder injury. The right-hander was picked for the tour of Sri Lanka but missed the opening Test due to viral fever. The elegant batsman was among the runs as he scored 57 before a mix-up with Cheteshwar Pujara ended his stay in the middle on Day 1 of the Colombo Test. At the post-match presser, Rahul said support of Kohli and team helped during his recovery phase. “It makes a massive difference. It gives me so much confidence, not just now but even after the surgery the support staff, the coaches, the boys were constantly messaging me and saying ‘whenever you are ready, get ready sooner, the team misses you’ and small things like that make a lot of difference,” said Rahul. “That kept me motivated, that woke me up each morning to go to physiotherapy and do my boring rehab. It gives you confidence that team is backing you, team trusts you, waiting for you to come back into the team and that makes a big difference and I come back with lot more confidence. “I can walk into the team with ease in my head, there is no pressure on me losing my position which is great and which the captain and coaches have always given me that support which has played a big role in my small career so far,” the opener said further. Rahul has battled a lot of injuries during his 18-Test international career. It was a difficult period for the right-hander and he said it’s not easy to sit at home. “We as sportsmen, we’re not used to just sitting at home and being at home all day. We want to go out, we want to play sport, we want to be in the gym, want to train, we want to hit balls, and when you’re not physically able to do that, it’s really tough. It starts playing on the mind a lot more. “I have kind of gotten used to this. More than playing for a long time, I have been in and out of the team because of injuries. It’s never easy to come back. “It takes you a couple of games to get back into your groove as an opening batsman, understand where your off stump is, to understand what pace you have to play at, how many shots are too many shots, how slow is too much slow – there are a lot of things, a lot of doubts in your mind if you keep going out and coming back in. But I have enjoyed the challenge,” said Rahul. “People might say there is certain part where I can control my body and I can take care of my body but sometimes it just happens. No matter how well I have taken care of my body, I have been injured a few times which is very unfortunate and which is very disappointing. But each time I have come back, I have come back stronger and I have come back hungrier.” Rahul was in the zone during his innings at SSC and looked set to get a hundred under his belt. The mix-up didn’t come at the right time for the opener. He left the field disappointed but said it was about getting out, not with Pujara. “I wasn’t upset with him. Run outs happen, it could have happened with anybody. It could have been him who got run out and it could have been my mistake. I wasn’t disappointed about that. I was disappointed because I have been away from the game so long and I didn’t want to get out at all. “I wanted to be in the middle, play as many balls as I could, as many days as I could if I could bat. I was disappointed about that. I was looking good and just after lunch, a crucial time as a batsman, you can capitalise and get a lot of runs during that session. “So I was disappointed that I got out at that time,” he said. In his short career, Rahul has hit four hundreds and seven fifties. The right-hander admits there were plenty of unconverted starts but he is not focussing on numbers as of now “I’ve never chased numbers, firstly. My job as an opening batsman is to give the team a good start, lay a solid foundation and I think I’ve done that so far. “Disappointing that I have not been able to convert that, but I think that will keep me hungrier. Each time I go back to bat, I will want to get more and more runs. I am not cautious about numbers right now, but maybe if this keeps going it might start playing on my mind. “But nothing changes, you feel a lot more confident, you’re seeing the ball a lot better, so you want to maybe play a little bit more positively. All the answers to the questions I will only find when I’m in the middle and when I get a hundred. That’s when I’ll know what the right process is and how I need to go about my innings,” he said. Talking about the pitch being used for the second Test, Rahul said, “It’s completely different from the one we played on the last time around. When we saw the wicket a couple of days ago, we did expect the wicket to be the same as last time, but today we turned up and the wicket was different. “It was on the slower side and I think it will take turn as the days go. The more the footmarks, the more turn and purchase Ashwin and Jadeja can get.” (With PTI inputs)