Indian middle-order batsman and wicketkeeper KL Rahul on Sunday recalled his journey back to the team after sustaining an injury and how the time away from the game helped him discover a love and joy for training. India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in their Asia Cup Super Four match in Colombo on Sunday. KL will also make his return to the team after missing out on the group stage of the Asia Cup due to a hiccup.
Speaking about his return from injury, KL said in a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) video: “I’m feeling good. It’s good to be back with the team. It’s been a while since I’ve been I’m glad everything went according to plan, glad I could tick all the boxes.”
Challenges while undergoing surgery
Fighting a mental battle
Contact us againA motivated one @klrahul shares his comeback from injury – By @RajalArora
Full interview #TeamIndia | #AsiaCup2023 | #INDvPAK
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 10, 2023
Speaking about his thigh injury, which occurred during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and its franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 1, he said he suffered a complete tendon tear. After scans revealed the injury was extensive, KL had no choice but to undergo surgery.
“I tried to chase a ball but my tendon snapped. I had a full blown tear, my tendon tore apart from my quadriceps. When it happened my family, franchise and everyone had their fingers crossed hoping it wasn’t something big was just a minor strain that could go away in two weeks. But after scans we found out it was a full tear and it became clear that I could recover from it after going under the knife. It took us a few days to decide where to go I am going for surgery and who was the best surgeon and I would like to thank BCCI, physios and doctors who made sure I got the best treatment and surgery You need people’s support at such times and I got that,” the batsman said. .
KL emphasized the need for rest and recovery time after surgery and how one should respect his/her body when it undergoes a “major repair.”
“During surgery you have to respect that your body has undergone something big, a major repair, and you have to give it enough time to recover. Skill-wise, I knew I only needed a few weeks to reconnect. gave myself 2-3 weeks to get back into playing cricket and master the skills of it. The most important thing was to have confidence in my own body, to remain pain free, free to move which required a lot of intensity. I knew that i had to keep wickets on my comeback. me and the physios were worried about it and there was a question mark in my mind. if you squat for every ball you need a lot of strength in your quads. you need your body to support you and feel pain free,” said KL.
The batsman said overcoming the fact and a mental battle that he could feel pain was a big challenge for him but it happened as he took things step by step under the guidance of coaches and physios from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) . .
“Sometimes you fight a mental battle where you feel like you are feeling pain, but it doesn’t allow you to focus on skills. Overcoming that fear and pain was a very big challenge. That can only happen if you take things one step ahead step. NCA Trainers and physios guided me when to get on and off. That’s how skills developed, I started sprinting, but during that process I got a little niggle just before I could come back, which was a big setback “I was ahead on the schedule and felt like I could come back before the Asia Cup and give myself some time. But that hiccup pushed me back two weeks. There were ups and downs during recovery. I was mentally ready, this helped me a lot.” ,” he said.
“When I had surgeries and injuries before, I was bored, didn’t know what to do and didn’t have any motivation to wake up and do physical therapy. It gets boring and frustrating. But this time it didn’t happen. I know it wasn’t. what it was but i managed to find the motivation to do the boring stuff. being away from the game for so long i wanted to enjoy something as boring as physio which isn’t as rewarding as playing a game of cricket. I tried to enjoy each day as it came, that made it easy. I felt like time was passing quickly. There were a few weeks that seemed very long, but mostly it went very quickly. I trained and improved every day, so I felt motivated to start training again,” he added.
Finally, KL said he is happy to be back in the side and finding his rhythm again. “I’m happy to be back in the team, getting that rhythm back of playing for 50 overs, 100 overs, wicketkeeping for 50 overs, batting as long as my time takes and getting that adrenaline back. We’re playing against some quality teams “I hope everything goes well in the coming days. I am confident and have prepared well,” KL concluded.
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