'Today people are praising me, 3-4 months ago they were abusing me' - KL Rahul opens up on online abuse

When most of the Indian batters struggled to score at the spicy SuperSport Park pitch in Centurion in the Boxing Day Test against South Africa, KL Rahul showed his mettle and scored one of the finest tons on South African soil.

Rahul has faced severe social media trolling at various points in his career due to his inconsistent performances. However, he is now receiving plaudits from the cricket fraternity after playing several crucial knocks since returning from thigh surgery earlier this year. After reaching his century on Day 2 of the first Test, he didn't block his ears in celebration. Instead, he took off his helmet, waved his bat to the dressing room and the fans, and soaked in the applause.

Rahul said that the time he spent out of cricket, owing to his injury, helped him work on himself and become calmer.

"When the injury happened and I was away from the game for a long time, I worked on myself and tried to go back to the person that I am. I realized that I can't get affected by these things and change myself; rather I shouldn't change myself. It's difficult to remain yourself, remain true to your personality when there's so much happening; it's the hardest thing. But like anything else in cricket and life, there are ways to work on it, there are people who can help you if your mind is open. So when I was out of the game, I worked on myself and worked on remaining calmer and taking care of what's happening inside my head," Rahul was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

"There's no point expressing myself on social media. People who want to say things will still say it. What I have realized is that in sport, if you are in the public eye, your performance is the only way you can stay away from negative comments. What I try to do is focus on my game and performance. The farther you stay from these things, the better," Rahul added.

Rahul spoke about the difficulties of playing international cricket and how it challenges cricketers everyday. He admitted that there is social media pressure and it does affect him.

"It's difficult. You have a personality and have certain personality traits and characteristics, and all that gets challenged when you are playing international cricket. As a person, as a cricketer, as an individual you are challenged each day, each moment. There's social media pressure like you [reporter] said. Today people are praising me but three-four months ago, they were going after me. It's all part of the game but I won't say that it doesn't affect me.

"The sooner you realize that staying away from these things is beneficial for your game and mindset, the better it is. You can perform better if you know where to draw the line. Nobody is that great that they can completely avoid [overlook] the criticism they are getting. Anyone who says it doesn't affect them at all I'm sure is lying."

Batting in the middle order allows you to plan your innings: KL Rahul

Rahul spoke about the advantages of batting in the middle order. He said that he plays according to the situation when he bats in the middle.

"Batting in the middle order, what I've realized is that you can't really plan your innings all that much. When you walk in, there's a situation in front of you [and] the situation in the game tells you how you need to play and what you need to do at that time and in that moment. That's what I tried to do. I try to walk in with a very free and empty mindset when I'm batting in the middle order, see what the game demands of me and try to do my best in that moment. Yesterday and today, the situation was quite clear that I'm batting with the tail and I need to take my chances and try to score as many runs as I can. It came off so I am happy," Rahul said.

The stylish right-handed batter also spoke about the challenges of playing in Centurion and how he loves to embrace it.

"I have quite enjoyed playing here. The wicket really keeps reminding you that you need to focus throughout and that you're never set, never really in or out of the game. It's a fast outfield, so when you time the ball you get boundaries. There will be times when you can score your runs fast, there will be times when you can't score a run at all... It's fun to bat here though. You never feel set. You keep playing and missing, and whenever that happens, you need to tell yourself that you need to focus again, it's not an easy wicket. Even when you're 70-80, you never feel like you'll score 30-40 runs in the next hour. That's one thing that helps me keep focus, doesn't let you think too far ahead," Rahul said of Centurion.

"It's important that on these wickets, you find a good balance between caution and aggression. It's not like you can go and start playing shots from ball one because there's so much happening off the wicket. You cannot get overaggressive because that can get you out too. Nor can you be overcautious. It's important to find that balance and players who manage that make runs on these kind of difficult wickets. But you've to be clear that if the ball is in a couple of areas, you have to go for your shots. Like Dean Elgar did too. Whenever he got a loose ball, he hit it for a boundary and that put pressure on the bowlers, who get defensive after that. As a batter, you are one step ahead then and runs come easily then," Rahul concluded.