KL Rahul was in the middle of it. Having arrived in the middle when the scorecard of the ICC Champions Trophy read 183/4, the wicketkeeper batter knew his job was to take the India cricket team home. And that he did. But it wasn’t easy. Axar Patel left his side soon, and he knew that although Hardik Pandya was there, he must take the responsibility.
KL Rahul fights nerves to win ICC Champions Trophy
He had done so in the semifinal against Australia as well. KL Rahul has admitted that he was nervous. He was feeling the nerves of the moment. One mustn’t forget that he was blamed for the ODI World Cup 2023 Final loss and would have thought, if Team India loses from here, he might be blamed again. More importantly, he might not be able to forgive himself. Ultimately, he did it as India won the 2025 Champions Trophy with four wickets still in hand.
“I don’t think I can say this on camera; I was shitting myself (on being at the crease in the end). We had a couple of batters to come, but it was all about holding the composure. Happy to win this, happy to get over the line. I think I’ve batted in times like this in three out of the five times. The games have given me a good time and helped me to do well in times like this. Hard to put into words, just pure skill, the way we’ve all played cricket growing up, face a lot of challenges. We’ve had to face pressure from the time we held the bat. BCCI has given us opportunities and helped the players to groom,” KL Rahul told Simon Doull after the match.
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