India's Rohit Sharma (R) and KL Rahul .
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, no stranger to struggles, empathised with KL Rahul on his ups and downs but hoped the gifted batter is able to finally take his game forward in the upcoming season when India play 10 Tests in a span of four months.
“There are only a handful of people in world cricket who've had a very smooth ride. I'm talking about since the time when cricket started, till now. The handful of cricketers who've had no issues all their life. Everyone has ups and downs,” said Rohit.
“I think with KL, the kind of quality he has, everyone knows about it. I can only talk about since I started captaining, the kind of messaging that has been given to him from our side was very simple that we wanted him to play all games. And we want him to bring the best out of him.
“Since his comeback now, he's played a great knock - he got a 100 in South Africa. Got an 80 (86) in that first Test match (against England) in Hyderabad and then got injured unfortunately. The guy's got the talent. He's got the game to play — the spin, the seamers. Spending so much time in international cricket, it's for him also to understand now how he wants to take his career forward.”