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KL Rahul has talked about his battle with
cyberbullying and how it started to alter him as a person. Rahul discussed the
work he put on his mind during the injury layoff right before the World Cup,
following his magnificent century to complete his international comeback. This
was his sixth century outside of Asia out of an overall eight, and this one
came with the extra duty of keeping wicket.
“It is difficult obviously,” Rahul said of
handling what is said about him. “You have your own personality,
personality traits, characteristics. When you play international cricket, they
all get challenged. As a person, as a cricketer, as an individual, you are
challenged each day, each moment. Social media is a pressure. Today I have
scored a hundred so people are singing praises. Three-four months ago,
everybody was abusing me. It’s part of the game, but I can’t say it doesn’t
affect you; it does. The sooner you realise that staying away from it is good
for your game and your mindset the better it is.
“You can perform or you can be in a better
mindset if you slightly know where to draw the line. Nobody’s that great that
they can completely avoid what has been said and the criticism they’re getting.
It does affect each person. And anyone who says that doesn’t affect them at
all, I’m sure is lying. But each person has to find their way. And for me, when
I was injured and was away from the game for such a long time, I worked on
myself. I tried to go back to the person that I am, and worked on how I don’t
change myself by getting affected by these things. It is difficult to remain
true to yourself and true to your personality with so much happening. It is the
hardest thing.
“But like anything else in cricket, like anything
else in life, there’s, there are ways to work on it. There are people who can
help you if your mind is open. So that’s what I did when I was out of the game.
I worked on myself and then worked on remaining calmer, and taking care of my
head. And what happens inside as well.”