Asia Cup 2022: I have realized playing the last few games it is not as easy – KL Rahul

India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul admitted that it hasn’t been easy for him to hit the ground running since he has made a return to International cricket after a long layoff due to injury, surgery, and contracting Covid-19. Rahul could only score 31 runs in the two innings he played against Zimbabwe and failed to get going.

Subsequently, Rahul was dismissed on a golden duck against Pakistan in the Group stage match of the Asia Cup. The right-hander was again dismissed cheaply against Hong Kong but looked in decent touch against Pakistan in the Super Four.

Rahul finally got going in the team’s final match of the Asia Cup 2022 as he scored 62 runs off just 41 balls against Afghanistan. The flamboyant batter scored a total of 132 runs in the five matches of the Asia Cup.

Rahul wasn’t able to hit the ground running but he finally was able to deliver the goods for the team in the team’s last match of the tournament. The Karnataka batter added 119 runs with Virat Kohli for the opening alliance to give a perfect start to his team on Thursday against the Afghan team.

India posted an above-par score of 212 runs and went on to win by a huge margin of 101 runs, which is their second biggest win in the T20I format.

KL Rahul said in the post-match presentation, “Coming back after a big injury and surgery, I have realized playing the last few games it is not as easy as you think. I was eager to come and play but obviously finding the same touch or same rhythm wasn’t coming easily as I thought it would. It is a learning for me as a player, happy I could spend some time in the middle and I started feeling good. In this format when you hit the first six off the middle gives you confidence, I think in the Hong Kong game I got a free hit and though I didn’t time it as well I could, I still hit the ball out of the ground and it felt good. Coming into the Pakistan game I felt a little better and getting few shots away gave me confidence, I am slowly getting into the rhythm.”

Rahul added that the result was disappointing as they were knocked out of the tournament after losing against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage.

Rahul added, “The result has been disappointing. Ideally, we would have wanted to play the final and challenge ourselves. We came into this tournament wanting to play the final and win the big tournaments but it didn’t go our way, we take the positives. We have been challenged and it is time to sit back and reflect. Losing is not great but sometimes you have to take it as part of the journey, our vision is the World Cup and hopefully, the learnings will help us for the World Cup.”

India will next face South Africa and Australia in the home series.