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One of the best cricketers in Indian cricket, KL Rahul is popular because of his technical skill set and humble aura on and off the field, respectively. Past few months haven’t been good for the Mangalore-born cricketer, as he was suffering from bad form and later got ruled out of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League and the forthcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final owing to an injury he sustained during a game in the IPL 2023. The 31-year-old has time and again been targeted by trolls on social media, and for the first time ever, he has addressed the non-stop trolls athletes face all the time.
Before the onset of the IPL 2023, KL appeared in an episode of the famous “The Ranveer Show” and talked about various aspects of his life, including the trolls he gets. During the episode, the host, Ranveer Allahbadia highlighted a valid point and said that it has become a trend to troll and criticise athletes. Replying to Ranveer, Rahul opened up about how it feels when people target them, especially during the times when they need everyone’s support. He said, “That’s something that sometimes affects me and affects a lot of the other boys as well that when we athletes truly need support, people feel they can or have the power to comment or say what they want. Just see what that person is going through.”
Watch the video here:
He also added that athletes don’t perform poorly intentionally; they all work hard and it is unfortunate that results sometimes turn out against them. He added, “None of us wants to perform badly. This is our life. This is all we do. Like I said, I don’t know anything else apart from cricket. That’s the only thing I do. Why would anyone assume that I am not serious about my game or I am not working hard enough? And unfortunately in sports, there is no connection. Like I said you can work hard, like I work hard but the result didn’t go my way.”
In that particular episode of “The Ranveer Show”, KL also opened up about his journey as a cricketer, and how the journey had been for him since he belonged to a small town. He also highlighted playing under several captains over the course of his career and lessons he learnt from MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.