A few months back, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya had to face a huge controversy because of Pandya’s sexist comments on the Koffee with Karan talk show. BCCI suspended both the cricketers and they were sent back home from Australia. Later, after the ban was lifted, the pair was back into action the next series.
In a recent interview, Rahul opened up about his life after the show.
“…it was hard as I am not used to people disliking me. For the first one week or 10 days, I couldn’t help but doubt myself, doubt my own character. The hardest thing was to know whether actually, you are a bad person when so much has been written about you,” Rahul told ‘India Today’.
“I was quite honestly scared to step out as I wasn’t ready. If somebody would ask questions, I didn’t know what I would answer. I would go for practice, come back home and be on my PlayStation as I wasn’t simply ready to face people. When you start playing for the country, you are so distracted, you are always on the move, forget who your true friends are or how important family is. I have been on the road for a long time and I haven’t had a break. So, you kind of have a disconnect with family or friends. You kind of drift away, don’t make time for friends,” he said.
“You share a lot with them but you forget that there are people back home, who have seen your struggles, seen you when you were nothing. They have helped you because they liked the real you. You rediscover your relationships with a lot of people. Even when I had to leave Australia and go back home, there were a lot of people who came up to me and put an arm around the shoulder and said ‘It’s okay, we have all been there and we have all made mistakes, and we have all had to face punishments in whatever way” He added.
The senior members of the Indian team had one advice for him: “Try to keep aside the hatred that you are receiving from social media and don’t doubt yourself.”
“So much has been said by people, that you start questioning yourself. But then family, friends, teammates, checked up on me as to what I was going through.”
Courtesy: India Today
