IND vs ENG: Scars of IPL 2023 injury in Lucknow still fresh, admits KL Rahul ahead of England clash at venue

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IND vs ENG: Ahead of India's sixth match of the World Cup 2023 against England at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday, October 29, KL Rahul admitted that scars of his injury which he suffered on the same ground on May 1 in IPL 2023, is still fresh on his mind.

Rahul suffered a severe thigh injury which kept him away from the game for almost six months. The wicketkeeper-batter is looking to put aside those unhappy memories with a performance which could hand India their sixth consecutive win on the trot.

“Yes, I am a little sad about that. 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," KL Rahul said in the press conference ahead of the India vs England clash.

“I can’t say that (injury) it is not in my mind. Yesterday when I came to the ground, 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,” he said ahead of the England game here on Sunday.

Rahul copped a lot of flak for his batting before the injury happened. The team management however had unwavering faith in him and he has now repaid that faith with his effort with the bat and behind the stumps.

His batting talent was never in question but the work he put on his keeping during the rehab has also borne fruit. His diving catch down the leg side to remove Mehidy Hasan Miraz in Pune is a result of that hard work.

“During the process of getting fitter as well, I did focus a lot on wicket keeping along with my batting. The medical team at the NCA felt like – with the kind of injury I had, the difficult part would be wicket keeping more than the batting.

“The things that I’ve worked much more harder on is my fitness and my wicket keeping. Then came batting so it was in that order. So, I did work a lot on my wicket-keeping there and yeah, even when I’ve come back here, I’ve spent a lot of time wicket-keeping. I feel like that requires a bit more time and effort from my side.

“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.”

IND vs ENG: 'Outside noise did affect me' - KL Rahul

KL Rahul was subject to massive online trolls before getting injured in the IPL 2023. Former pacer Venkatesh Prasad had also taken open shots at him during the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023. He was dropped for the last two games and removed from vice-captaincy.

Rahul revealed that he worked on the mental side of the game as well during the injury-enforced break. He hinted that he also worked with mental coaches in his time away from the game.

“I tried to address outside noise for a long time, I thought it won’t affect me, but in the last year or so it started affecting me. And then I realized that I will have to work on it. And when I got time, outside of the game, I tried to work on that side – mentally you got to get a lot more stronger, a lot more thick-skinned.

“So yeah, so that really helped me being away from the game. There are specialist mental coaches that you can use and work on if you feel that it will help. So, I tried a bit of everything."

IND vs ENG India Team Combination

In the media interaction, Rahul also indicated that the team will continue with five bowlers in Hardik Pandya’s absence. Suryakumar Yadav will bat at six like he did in Dharamsala.

Asked if Hardik’s absence will change his mindset with the bat at number five, he said: “Hardik has also been a very important member of the team and he has been there and he does a very important role for the team.

“So not having him is also a bit of a miss for the team. But it’s unfortunate what happened. And yeah, we also at some point have to look at that and the present is that he is not available for this game.

“Surya will probably get his chance and we know what Surya can do. So, our confidence is in Surya till Hardik comes back.”

Further, India have ended up chasing in all five games and have done that successfully. In the remaining four league games, India won’t mind batting first if the situation arises and management has also spoken about that possibility.

“We have not really gone too much into it. “So whatever opportunities we’ve gotten we’ve done well but again it will be a good opportunity if 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,” he added.

(With Input from PTI)