KL Rahul spoke about a hilarious incident featuring Rahul Dravid, when the ex-India head coach scolded him with a funny quip to put his point through to him. The incident comes from the 2023 Asia Cup tournament, which was played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
KL Rahul had been out of action after suffering a serious injury in IPL 2023 and made his return to the Indian squad for the Asia Cup tournament. Rahul made his intentions apparent upon his comeback by blasting 111 runs off 106 balls, including 12 fours and two sixes, against Pakistan in the Super 4s tournament in Colombo.
Rahul soaked in the ovation after reaching the milestone off Naseem Shah's bowling. He lifted his bat in the air. Interestingly, he had his back to the dressing room. The 33-year-old has revealed what happened during the celebration and how it offended then-coach Rahul Dravid.
Rahul revealed that he was not scheduled to play against Pakistan since Shreyas Iyer was going to start in the lineup. However, a back spasm caused Rahul to take his place.
"I'll tell you a story. So, this was right after my injury. I was not supposed to play this game either. Shreyas Iyer was supposed to play, but he got a back spasm, and I ended up playing this game. For those four months that I was out, through that hard phase, every morning I woke up and said the same thing, 'I'll be the best player in the world,'" said KL Rahul on the ‘2 Sloggers’ Podcast.
“I motivated myself. The dressing room was on this side; I turned my back to the dressing room and then to this celebration. Rahul Dravid, the coach, got a little upset. 'Why did you turn your back on the dressing room?' I said, 'No sir, I meant no disrespect.' In the four to five months that I was out, I had a dream that there was a statue of me with me celebrating like that,” he added.
Rahul, who recently appeared for India in the three-ODI series in Australia, said Dravid was left amused upon learning about this dream of a statue.
"He said, 'Statue tera? Mera nahi bana, tera statue? (I don't have a statue, but you have.)" This is why this is very special to me," said Rahul.
Apart from Rahul, Virat Kohli had also slammed an unbeaten century, adding 233 runs with the Karnataka batter, taking India to 356/2 in 50 overs. In response, Pakistan was bowled out for 128 runs, as Kuldeep Yadav routed them with 5/25, with India winning by 228 runs.
