The Indian squad for the fifth Test has been announced, and yet again KL Rahul is missing because of injury. In fact, he is in London for diagnosis and the press release suggested that the BCCI medical team were in touch with experts to figure out when Rahul would make it back to the pitch.
Rahul, it could be said, is one of the unluckiest players around. Each time he gets into a streak of red-hot form, he is laid low by injury. His hundred in South Africa was one of the best by an Indian against the moving ball, and much was expected of him against England. That’s when the injury struck, and it was clearly much more serious than initially assumed.
Rahul isn’t new to injury. The one he suffered during the IPL in 2023 had pushed him out of the World Test Championship final, and it was just in time for the World Cup that he was able to make a comeback. He did have a very good World Cup and had travelled to South Africa carrying some form.
This ability to come back from injury and make a mark is proof of Rahul’s ability. Injuries can scar you mentally, and it takes months to regain full fitness and confidence. Take the case of PV Sindhu. Since being laid low by injury at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Sindhu needed a year and more to get back her rhythm. Only recently has she started to look good again. For Rahul, who has been impacted by multiple tissue injuries, it can’t be easy.
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As a senior player, he is expected to shoulder responsibility and hardly gets much time to get back into full rhythm with the team banking on him for multiple things. In South Africa, he kept wickets as well and did so with success. With a huge series down under in December, Rahul will be needed to step up in the Indian middle order. Against a quality Australian bowling attack, India will need experience and Rahul is surely one of the men that Rohit Sharma will turn to.
As the captain of his franchise, Rahul will also be in focus during the IPL. Lucknow Super Giants missed him badly in the final stages of the 2023 campaign, and having moved on from Krunal Pandya, they will need their skipper back fully fit to mount a strong title challenge.
For Rahul too, the IPL is hugely important. It is his door to the T20 World Cup. With Rishabh Pant still not ready and Ishan Kishan out of favour, a good IPL could catapult Rahul to being first choice for the tournament in the US and the Caribbean. But then, he needs to be fit to be able to keep wickets in the IPL. Batting alone won’t open national team doors, and he could then miss the World Cup as well.
Clearly, the next week is very critical for Rahul. Not just physically, but also for his mental health. Injuries can lay anyone low, and it is as much a mental challenge as anything to keep motivating yourself for a comeback. And when it’s something where the diagnosis has been a problem, and you expect it to heal but it doesn’t, the mental issue becomes that much worse. Self-doubt creeps in and so does frustration. Negativity is the worst thing for an athlete, and that’s what Rahul needs to guard against.
Having known him well, Rahul is mentally strong enough to deal with adversity. He has faced challenges before, and injuries aren’t new to him. But this time round, he doesn’t have too much time left. With the IPL just weeks away, he has to be ready soon, for missing the IPL could also impact his World Cup chances. In every sense, it is a test. On and off the field, and it will test his resolve more than anything. If he makes a strong comeback, few would bet against him making the T20 World Cup side.
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— RevSportz (@RevSportz) February 29, 2024