Raghu made me a better player, says KL Rahul

What's the story?

KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara had a fun interaction right ahead of the upcoming ODI series against Sri Lanka. The two got candid about each other and chose to disclose about several aspects of the personal bond they share with each other off the field.

One of the topics that the two discussed in a video for BCCI was Raghu Srinivasan. Pujara wanted to know when did Raghu start bowling to assist batsmen as the latter worked towards improving their game. He directed the question towards Rahul because he thought that Rahul was the first batsman who faced Raghu's dangerous deliveries.

Rahul immediately responded by saying that he was definitely not the first one to face Raghu in National Cricket Academy (NCA). "Raghu has been somebody who has been a second coach to me. He was there in the NCA since my Under 15 days and he used to call me for training. He helped me groom and get better as a player", he added.

In case you didn't know...

Raghu Srinivasan has been with the Indian team since 2011 when India toured Australia. He is the assistant trainer and he can be spotted in India's net sessions giving throw downs to the Indian batsmen.

The details

Rahul credits Raghu for helping out young players by assisting them during their training at the NCA. He said that back in the days of his training at the NCA, Raghu used to bowl different sort of deliveries to him so that he could learn more about the game and get ready to face the most unexpected styles of bowling.

He also mentioned that the two used to spend a lot of time talking about the game and shared insights which in turn helped him to work on improving his game. Together, they worked hard on Rahul's batting while Raghu made sure that the latter wouldn't miss his practice sessions for the sake of other indulgences.

What's next?

India will take on Sri Lanka in a five match ODI series starting from 20th August.

Author's take

Raghu has been an essential asset for the Indian team when it comes to training. He has done an excellent job in assisting young batsmen while the latter strive to improve their game. It is good to see that the players acknowledge these efforts and rightfully credit him for the incredible job he does.

Hopefully, Raghu will continue to work towards raising the performance bar for the Indian players so that they continue to be fearless while facing new bowlers. The variations projected by Raghu is bound to introduce Indian batsmen to unfamiliar styles of deliveries which will prepare them for the worse situations.

Raghu has proved to be incredibly beneficial for the team and he will surely boost the quality of the game projected by the players of the Indian team.