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KL Rahul played all five matches of the Champions Trophy 2025, and in addition to scoring 140 runs, he took six catches and completed one stumping.
KL Rahul’s shocking reaction when asked about his experience of keeping against Indian spinners goes viral. (Picture Credit: Screengrab)
KL Rahul played a big role in helping India end the 12-year-long wait for a third Champions Trophy title. The 32-year-old cricketer from Karnataka was preferred ahead of Rishabh Pant for the role of wicketkeeper-batter in the playing XI, and he justified the selection by taking six catches and completing one stumping behind the wicket in addition to scoring 140 runs with the bat in four innings of five matches. Rahul remained unbeaten on 42 runs against Australia in the semifinal and hammered 34 runs from 33 balls in the final played against New Zealand on Sunday (March 9) in Dubai.
After winning his first ICC with the Indian team as a player, Rahul gave an interview to Sanjana Ganesan, during which Sanjana asked him about how ‘fun’ it was keeping wickets against India’s spin quartet of Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel.
While replying to the question, Rahul said that it was a tiresome job.
“It’s not fun Sanjana. You know I have to squat 200-250 times when these spinners are bowling and yeah they’re high quality and the pitches obviously assisted them a bit so that makes them even more dangerous and that makes it even more challenging for me behind the stumps to keep against them. The way they’ve bowled, the way they’ve used those conditions have been phenomenal.”
The video of Rahul’s reaction is now going viral on the internet.
Rahul, who also remained unbeaten on 41 runs in the first Group A match against Bangladesh, said that there was no better feeling for him than winning the Champions Trophy title with the Indian team.
“I don’t think there’s a better feeling than this. I had said this in an interview a couple of months ago—that my entire focus from now on is to win as many titles as possible. God has put me in situations where I can win games for my team. I haven’t always been able to do that, but that’s the beauty of sport—you keep getting opportunities. If you stay humble, put your heart in the right place, train hard, and let your bat talk, God finds ways to bless you. That’s all I can say. We work hard all year, throughout our careers, but moments like these are truly special,” Rahul told Star Sports.
- Location :
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)