KL Rahul is one of those players of Indian cricket, who is being talked about to hand over the command of the team in future. However, there was a time in the career of this wicket-keeper batsman, when he was dropped from the team despite scoring more than 300 runs in the World Cup. He was very disappointed with this move of the team management. Then he was given the ‘gurumantra’ by the Caribbean legend Chris Gayle to get him out of despair and cement his place in the team.
KL Rahul told this to television and cricket presenter Gaurav Kapoor on his YouTube show ‘Breakfast with Champions’. KL Rahul is the captain of Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. He has also taken over the command of India’s Test team.
KL Rahul said, ‘I remember it was in 2019. We played the World Cup and right after that, we went to West Indies for a series. I played the World Cup. I did well in the World Cup. After that we went to play the series, but I was dropped.
Shikhar Dhawan was injured after scoring a century in the World Cup 2019. Because of this, KL Rahul, who batted at number 4 in the first two matches for Team India, was promoted to open with Rohit Sharma. KL Rahul performed brilliantly in the World Cup 2019. He scored 361 runs in 9 matches including 2 fifties and a century.
KL Rahul told Gaurav Kapoor, ‘You know, I was very disappointed, because I played the World Cup, but I was not playing the series. It had no meaning. I messaged him (Chris Gayle). He said come to the pool. I’m having a drink. The next day was his 300th game, so he was very happy. I went too. I was by the pool. He also had some friends with Gayle. He came, sat with me, talked to me. Why are you not playing?’
KL Rahul “Then Chris Gayle said look, you can always count 100 other reasons not to play, but it’s up to you whether you play or not. If the team management thinks that your 70 is not enough, then score 150. If even 150 is not enough then you go for 200. You need to see things this way. If 600 runs is not enough in a season of IPL, then make 800 runs.