KL Rahul reveals what niggle he suffered at the NCA before Asia Cup 2023

KL Rahul is making his comeback to Indian team against Pakistan in Super Four stage of Asia Cup 2023.

Indian chief selector Ajit Agarkar dropped a bomb when he announced India's Asia Cup squad and informed the press that KL Rahul has once again suffered with a niggle. Now, after missing out on the first two games in the group round, KL Rahul is making his comeback on the field against Pakistan in the super 4 encounter at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. KL Rahul’s selection was the biggest concern for Indian fans, as he was looked at as India’s preferred wicket-keeper option. They were expecting KL Rahul to get fit as early as possible.

Returning after a long layoff due to injury, KL Rahul has spoken to BCCI.tv and expressed his feelings after joining Indian camp for Asia Cup 2023. Rahul said, "I am feeling good; obviously, it is good to be back with the team. It’s been quite some time that I have been away from the game but yeah, obviously happy to be back, and yeah, everything worked out right on our schedule. So I am happy that I could tick off all the boxes." Rahul got injured while playing for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Explaining his injury, KL Rahul said, "I got injured while trying to chase a ball, and my tendon snapped. I had a full-fledged tear; my tendon ripped apart from my quadriceps. So when it happened, it was obviously me, my family, the franchise, and the team; everybody had their fingers crossed, hoping that wasn’t a big tear, a small strain, or that I could get better in a couple of weeks. But once we did the scans in a couple of days, we knew it was a full tear, and it was quite clear that in terms of how I could get better from this injury, I would go under the knife and do surgery."

Much needed wicket-keeping skills also became a little hurdle for KL Rahul, as he was too concerned about them. Rahul in the BCCI.tv video said, "I knew coming back I would have to keep wickets as well. That was one of the big concerns for the physios and me. A big question mark in my head is that the biggest challenge for coming back will be wicketkeeping because of a quadriceps injury. When you are wicket-keeping and squatting down every ball, you require a lot of strength in your quads, and you need it to support you and be pain-free."

KL Rahul also succumbed to an injury while in rehabilitation that delayed his comeback by two matches from the previously scheduled. Rahul had a niggle and joined Indian camp after the league round. Rahul informed, "Unfortunately, in the process of doing recovery, I developed a small niggle just before I could come back into the team, which was a big downer. I was actually ahead of schedule, and I felt like I could come back much before the Asia Cup, give myself a lot of time, and prepare myself pretty well. But unfortunately, one more niggle set me back a couple of weeks. In his absence, Ishan Kishan played a fantastic knock against Pakistan in India’s Asia Cup opener.

It is still important to see whether KL Rahul keeps wickets against Pakistan or whether team India go in with Ishan Kishan as keeper. They both are playing in the same eleven as Shreyas Iyer is ruled out of the Pakistan encounter due to a back spasm. KL Rahul seems to be a late inclusion in the team, as management was originally looking to go with Kishan as the keeper and Shreyas Iyer as the No. 4 batter. At the time of writing, team India have got off to a great start against Pakistan as they have crossed the 100-runs mark inside the 14th over without losing any wicket. Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma have smashed their second consecutive fifties in Asia Cup 2023.