Nearly 15 months after his and India’s ODI World Cup final heartbreak in Ahmedabad, KL Rahul was at the heart of a momentous Champions Trophy in Dubai as the Men in Blue ended the 50-over title jinx after 12 years.
After starring with a crucial cameo in India’s semi-final victory over Australia, Rahul candidly expressed the frustrations of having to consistently prove his detractors wrong while adjusting to multiple roles, ranging from an opener to middle-order bat and wicket-keeper across formats within months. “Whenever I perform well in a series and then take a break from the ODI circuit, I always face questions upon my return after 4-5 months. People wonder if I’ll even make the playing XI or where I’ll fit into the team. It makes me think at times, ‘What more can I do?’ But no matter where I’ve been asked to play, I’ve always given my best, and I believe I’ve executed my role to the best of my ability,” Rahul said in the post-match press conference then.
Speaking in a Sky Sports interview with former England captain, Nasser Hussain, Rahul opened up on the challenge of having to prove himself over and over again. The Karnataka batter also said he found it challenging that the people in charge of making decisions tend to forget his contributions across the board.
“I don’t mind proving myself all the time. That’s how any sport is – to always perform in every tournament. That’s the case with international cricketers anywhere in the world. But that’s not the hard part – it’s the people who make the decisions who seem to forget what the player has done in the recent tournament. It has been the challenge for me,” he said in an interview for Sky Sports.
The 33-year-old felt that the comments might be the same again when he returns to the ODI team in August when India will play three matches in Bangladesh.
“The next ODI tournament might be after five months because it’s going to be a long English Test summer and you see people writing and commenting ‘we need to look for players who can play the 2027 World Cup or the World Cup after that.’ But it’s not just a challenge for me but every cricketer goes through it. I got a bit emotional during the press conference (after Champions Trophy semifinal) and said that,” he further added.
The 2025 season with has been no different for Rahul as he juggled between being a middle-order keeper-bat as well as stop-gap measure as an opener. Rahul racked up his fifth IPL century opening the batting in his second outing in the slot and tallied 539 runs at a near-150 strike rate for the season.
