KL Rahul was in sublime touch scoring six fifties in seven innings when he injured himself in the fourth test in Dharamsala against Australia.
Rahul had a niggle in his shoulder which needed a surgery and three months of rehabilitation due to which he missed the IPL, the Champions Trophy in England and the tour to West Indies.
He spent a lot of hours at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) doing his rehabilitation. Cut back to July, he is again in the mix with the players with full fitness and ready to go with the bat.
“Yes, I am [nervous]. The body is still very unsure and it keeps holding me back every time. That”s the biggest challenge coming back from injury,” Rahul said while talking to bcci.tv after the first day’s play of the two days practices match against Sri Lanka Board President XI.
While talking about his NCA days, Rahul recalled, “That was the biggest challenge for me but I woke up and there was something that pushed me to go to the gym, go to the physio, go through the painful process, needling and then pushing my shoulder. It was quite tough but it is part of a sportsman’s life and part of our career. It’s good that things like this happened to me early and I am hoping for an injury-free career going forward. The surgeon and the physio were really happy that I could come back in three months. They were expecting me to come back a lot later but I did pay a lot of attention to my rehab. I was much disciplined and very eager to get back to the team as soon as I could. I didn’t want to miss out on any more matches. “
Rahul showed some glimpses of his old form scoring 54 runs in 58 balls and was happy about the fact that he overcame his tough days away from cricket. He said he learned a lot from his previous tour to Sri Lanka, where he left a lot of balls and got bowled.
“Once I put my helmet on, I forget all of these things. You see the ball, you see the ball pitched up to you and it has to be driven, you will drive. Your body is used to that for 15 years. Injured or not injured, your body just reacts. The fear is obviously there but I will fight it and I will overcome that,” a confident Rahul concluded.