KL Rahul's performance was one of the few positive for India in the first Test against South Africa. The batter scored a terrific ton which was praised by Sunil Gavaskar as one of top 10 centuries for India in Test cricket. KL Rahul also had a good outing for India at the ODI World Cup 2023 where he donned the wicketkeeper's gloves as well. KL Rahul recently revealed the support he received from his wife, Athiya Shetty during injury and rehabilitation and her little superstition.
Rahul and Athiya got married in 2023. Athiya is the daughter of Bollywood actor and entrepreneur Suniel Shetty.
"She was with me. She's always been with me through everything. She was more frustrated and angrier most days than I was. So, I found myself, trying to keep her calm than anything else. But it's also the first time that she'd seen me go through something, like this, KL Rahul said on Star Sports.
"So, it was tough for both of us, but it also gave us time that we needed together, which was good for us. Things started slowly and I think I need to go back to the same process again. I feel like the negativity manifested into the injury and in this phase, I just stayed happy and enjoyed the smaller things in life and enjoyed being at home, being with my wife, being with my family that helped me recover so much, so much faster and get back into the game much more happier and much more excited to play the sport that's given me so much joy."
KL Rahul also revealed that when he is on the ground he does not think about his wife. "She is gonna kill me but I don't really think about her when I step onto the ground. It's always cricket and I don't mean this in a bad way or in any unromantic way. What she does do for me is, you know, she lets me, she gives me a lot of love and, and there's a lot of peace," he said.
"So, if I'm peaceful if I'm in a very balanced state of mind, that helps me perform my best, and she knows that. That's what she does for me in terms of Cricket and professionally and also for me as a person. I can be a little laid back, and a little too content at times. She does push me, she challenges me to be better or to push my boundaries a little bit, which also I feel with a person like me, is sometimes needed. Off the field, I think she brings a lot of fun to my life. There's a lot of love, obviously and she understands me. She gets me. And she's also someone who, who's busy herself or she's also in the public eye. So she gets the ups and downs of our industry. So it's easy for me to talk to her, to communicate with her and then she's just my person. I mean, she's the one person that I talk to as soon as I finish my games or before I go to a game, before I sleep when I wake up, it's, it's just her. So yeah, married the right person!"