{"id":394490,"date":"2026-01-28T06:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/394490\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:04:23","slug":"just-quit-when-the-time-comes-kl-rahul-opens-up-on-injuries-mental-battles-and-crickets-next-chapter-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/394490\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Just quit when the time comes\u2019: KL Rahul opens up on injuries, mental battles, and cricket\u2019s next chapter | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769580263_642_kl-rahul.jpg\" alt=\"\u2018Just quit when the time comes\u2019: KL Rahul opens up on injuries, mental battles, and cricket\u2019s next chapter\" title=\"KL Rahul (PTI Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/> NEW DELHI: India batter KL Rahul admits that his career has not yet fulfilled the lofty potential of his batting ability. The Karnataka batter, however, has found a new lease of life in a stable role in India\u2019s ODI middle-order, emerging as one of the world\u2019s most reliable No. 5 batter since 2023. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@toisports\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" target=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">SUBSCRIBE NOW!<\/a>In that period, Rahul is the only No. 5 batter globally to maintain a 60-plus average and a strike rate near 100 in 50-over cricket. At 33, he seems to be ripening in ODIs, even as his T20I career remains on pause since 2022, and his Test average of 35.86 continues to belie his true potential. <\/p>\n<p>Why Tilak Varma will miss T20Is vs New Zealand | Comeback date revealed | T20 World Cup<\/p>\n<p>In a conversation with former England captain Kevin Pietersen on YouTube, Rahul reflected candidly on the idea of retirement. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s [retirement] gonna be that difficult. If you\u2019re honest with yourself, when it\u2019s time, it\u2019s time. And there\u2019s no point dragging it. Obviously, I\u2019m some time away,\u201d he said, emphasising a pragmatic approach to life beyond cricket.Rahul also discussed the mental toll of repeated injuries, which have often been harder to overcome than the physical pain. \u201cThere have been times when I\u2019m injured and I\u2019ve been injured so many times and that\u2019s the hardest battle that you have to face. It\u2019s not the pain\u2026 it\u2019s the mental battle where your mind just gives up. You know, when it happens so many times, your mind is just like, you\u2019ve done enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Poll<\/p>\n<p>What do you think about KL Rahul&#8217;s potential as a batter?<\/p>\n<p>He added that keeping a balanced perspective has helped him prepare for the eventual end of his international career. \u201cJust quit. Just enjoy the stuff that you\u2019ve got and you have your family and just do that. That\u2019s the hardest battle\u2026 Cricket in our country will carry on. Cricket in the world will carry on. There are more important things in life and I think this mindset I\u2019ve always had, but ever since I\u2019ve had my first baby\u2026 the way you look at life is completely different,\u201d Rahul said.After completing India\u2019s ODI assignments earlier this month, Rahul is set to return to domestic action, turning out for Karnataka in a must-win <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/ranji-trophy\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ranji Trophy<\/a> clash against Punjab in Mohali on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW DELHI: India batter KL Rahul admits that his career has not yet fulfilled the lofty potential of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,148233,148232,130132,148234,148231,148235,48672,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-394490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-cricket-retirement-thoughts","10":"tag-india-odi-middle-order-performance","11":"tag-karnataka-cricket-news","12":"tag-kevin-pietersen-interview","13":"tag-kl-rahul-injury-updates","14":"tag-mental-health-in-sports","15":"tag-ranji-trophy","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}