KL Rahul reacts to social media trolls: 'It affects me, why would people assume I am not serious'

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KL Rahul is spending time away from cricket after a successful thigh surgery which has ruled him out of the ongoing IPL 2023 and the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia from June 7.

The wicket-keeper batter is not having a great year per se and has been subject to severe social media trolls. His poor run in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 did not only irk fans but also a few former cricketers.

In the IPL 2023, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain was trolled for his poor strike rate before he was ruled out due to injury. A few social media users had also reacted distastefully to his painful injury.

Has the heavy trolling affected him? Yes. The 31-year-old has opened up on the issue and admitted that the constant judgement and trolling from the fans do affect him and the other members of the Indian cricket team.

The Karnataka batter went on to add that cricket is the only specialisation he has, adding that it was bizarre for others to assume that he isn't serious about his profession.

“That's something that sometimes affects me and affects a lot of the other boys as well that when we athletes truly need support, people feel they can or have the power to comment or say what they want. Just see what that person is going through,” Rahul said while speaking on The Ranveer Show.

“None of us wants to perform badly. This is our life. This is all we do. Like I said, I don't know anything else apart from cricket.

“That's the only thing I do. Why would anyone assume that I am not serious about my game or that I am not working hard enough? And unfortunately in sports, there is no connection. Like I said you can work hard, like I work hard but the result didn't go my way," he added.

KL Rahul's LSG is now being led by Krunal Pandya. The team is on the cusp of qualifying for IPL playoffs after their five-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) on Tuesday.