KL Rahul has been in-form of his life, be it with the bat or behind the stumps in the home series against Australia and the recently concluded away series against New Zealand.
While the 27-year-old is enjoying his time on-field, his off-field controversy somehow is not willing to leave his side.
After his appearance at ‘Koffee with Karan’ with teammate Hardik Pandya, both the cricketers were banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for some of the controversial remarks made by them on the chat show.
Recently, while talking about the incident, Rahul said how his life has changed after the show.
“Everybody kept saying time will heal, but you don’t see it as a young guy. I hadn’t really performed well earlier in Australia [December 2018-January 2019]. There was that frustration. It was tough on my family as well because my mom and dad worry about society, what people will say,” Rahul was quoted as saying in GQ India.
“I sulked, I won’t lie. I didn’t want to do anything. The only thing that made me forget what was happening was training, cricket, and some golf. Now, after a year, when people say ‘time heals,’ ‘everything happens for the best’, etc., these clichéd lines start to feel true”.
The Karnataka lad also revealed that it was difficult for him to move on after the incident.
“I personally needed a hit like that to wake up and know which direction I’m going in. I realized I wasn’t good at anything else [except cricket]. I was too far into this, I’d chosen what I have to do, and I had to give it everything. From there, my focus became better. It made me stronger and more disciplined,” KL added.
As far as Rahul’s on-field performance is concerned, the stylish batsman scored 224 runs in the five-match T20I series against the Black Caps and was rewarded as the ‘Man of the Man Series’.