KL Rahul: The Unsung Hero Who Proves His Worth :

In the Indian team, there are stars and then there are stars like KL Rahul - quiet, uncelebrated, often unsung, mostly maligned and perpetually trolled. A captain Rohit Sharma would say later that, as with any achievement, glory in Champions Trophy would not have come without a total team effort and if one was to be picked for the bottleneck yet underappreciated effort, it would be Rahul's. A calm storm, Rahul was able to steer the men when they most needed guidance during the ups and downs.

During the high-pressure moments during the second semifinal versus Australia, he instructed Virat Kohli to guard one side and offered to take all the risks possible for every single over. An otherwise very self-composed batter like Kohli lost control and attempted a reckless shot that cost him his wicket. When the battle started getting harder than comfortable for the team, Rahul was the one at the unguarded side all the way till the finish line.

The game, almost, to a degree, spiraled out of control in the final stage when Axar, in what can be termed as an over aggression that led to a self-inflicted injury, got out to long-off which put the side in a difficult position. It was Rahul yet again who came to the rescue by scoring 34. To guarantee that the required run rate did not escalate out of control, he also hit some important big shots. Rahul was there to help the team to the finish, preventing what could have been an extraordinarily catastrophic collapse. His presence effortlessly displayed serenity, logic, and resolve. It was a blessing for the Indian unit that such an astutely calm and poised player accepted the burden. Very few sides possess the combination of such skill and character.

Rohit praised Rahul for the part he played in the team's success and recognized his contribution to the team's effort. "KL obviously has been doing a lot of challenging work for the team for so many years now. And I'm very, very happy with how he managed to pull this tournament and batted in pressure situations, both in semifinals and this game as well. The contribution may not be 70-80, but those 30-40s are very, very important," the skipper said.

If you are chasing after a person during a match and need to run towards them from behind, it can become challenging. Tough. Luckily KL possesses the quality of confidence. And it really helps that he knows how to manage a team. He manages the mood in the dressing room and that keeps him very calm. So, for him, I can say I am very happy to understand the contributions that he made for the team in this tournament.

Paradoxically, this stands out as Raul's first ICC trophy in the curriculmn vitae of his career, that having spanned a little over a decade. He batted in four of the five games that he played during the competition and posted scores of 41 against Bangaldesh, 23 versus New Zealand, 42 runs in the semifinals against Australia, and 34 runs against New Zealand in the finals. He scored a total of 140 in the tournament with three of those scores coming from unbroken innings. But without a half-century to his name still.

"Cricket requires team collaboration and to facilitate that, one must be flexible in their skill set. To begin with, you need to accept and appreciate your tasks and responsibilities, and then, put in the required effort to perform for the team." Rahul spoke regarding his approach for the lower middle order. It was encouraging to see a former opener be so astoundingly versatile in his approach.

"I don't think ICC titles come easy. That is my first record so I am overly ecstatic. It is not down to one or two matches. I believe all eleven, twelve, players have performed when required to. It is easy to understand why we are able to end strongly," he said.

Rahul showed up at the ICC Academy facility nearly an hour early to meet his teammates for a practice session prior to the final. He began by doing solo warm ups outside and then moved on to hitting practice where he aimed for the big shots. Since he was set to bat much later in the order, he worked with an old ball and hypothetically set out to smash the ball out of the stadium. His contributions of 42 and 34 runs not out in the two finals were critically important and worth their weight in gold.

“It does take a quite a bit of work, And to be able to walk out into a game, I have taken time to deeply think about how I wish to approach every single match and what is needed in the various scenarios that arise in the run of play,” Rahul described his work ethics. “To improve, I simply look out for players of similar stature, I study batters who play six, analyze how they excelled in their previous encounters...therefore I learn, absorb and make meanings from everything around me. At this point, I am grateful that different responsibilities have been assigned to me and I have managed to deliver.”