“KL would play a major role in the Champions Trophy” - Former India coach’s stunning revelation of Rohit Sharma’s message

Former Team India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar revealed that skipper Rohit Sharma shared a message with him about transforming KL Rahul's mindset as a batter after he took over the coaching role. Nayar, who was part of head coach Gautam Gambhir's staff from the middle of last year to April this year, helped Rahul become a more attacking batter.

Despite his obvious talent, the 33-year-old often retreated into his shell and lacked intent, resulting in mediocre Test numbers and a below-par match-winning impact across formats. However, with Nayar's assistance, Rahul has turned the corner across formats over the past few months.

Despite batting at several positions, he played many crucial knocks for India in the first half of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy down under. Rahul finished as India's third-leading run-scorer with 276 runs on challenging pitches.

Talking to ESPN Cricinfo about Rohit's message when he took over as India's assistant coach, Nayar said:

"When I first picked up that role, I remember I had a conversation with Rohit, and he said that one of the things he was really keen on me doing was working with KL and bringing out a more aggressive outlook to how KL played the game, and bringing the best out of him because he believed strongly that KL would play a major role in the Champions Trophy, World Cup and everything going forward including the BGT [Border-Gavaskar Trophy] and the Tests in England."

Rahul's 77 and 84 in the first and third Tests against Australia helped India stay alive at 1-1 in the five-match series after three matches. However, he and his side tapered off in the final two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney, resulting in a 1-3 series defeat.

"I remember watching him and saying damn, this is really working" - Abhishek Nayan on KL Rahul's 2025 Champions Trophy

KL Rahul played a massive role in India's thrilling 2025 Champions Trophy final victory [Credit: Getty]

Abhishek Nayar believes KL Rahul's maximum early in his innings in the 2025 Champions Trophy final against New Zealand was validation of his work with the ace batter. Coming into bat at No.6 with India needing 69 off 68 deliveries, the 33-year-old started slow, scoring only three off his first seven balls.

However, contrary to the past when he would get bogged down, Rahul cleared his front leg and smashed the in-form Mitchell Santner for a maximum off his eighth delivery.

"Watching the game as part of the support staff, I remember watching him and saying damn, this is really working. Because that start was very against his nature. It was not a shot that he would play when batting on [3]. That's a shot he would play when he was batting 35 or 40. That is a small moment in my head when I said, damn, we are thinking right, he's moving in the right direction," said Nayar (via the aforementioned source).

He added:

"There is no right time to play a shot. There is a shot, you play it. Now the backstory of the shot, no one knows. That only you and me know so let's not expect others to understand it. No one knows the work you are putting in." "No one knows the hours of planning that go into understanding why I'm going to play the shot or why I am doing this, that's for us to understand. We have to be okay with the fact that if it doesn't work out, people are going to criticise, people are going to ask questions, people are going to point fingers. That's the world. It is fine."

KL Rahul scored a crucial 33-ball 34* as India won the final by four wickets to lift the 2025 Champions Trophy. The right-hander finished the tournament with an average of 140 and a strike rate of almost 98 as India's finisher in the lower middle order.

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Edited by Venkatesh Ravichandran