India wicketkeeper KL Rahul had a perfect start to the ongoing Test series in South Africa as he struck his eighth century in whites in the first innings at Centurion on Wednesday. The ton gave a sigh of relief to Rahul as he was struggling for form in Tests and breached the three-figure mark after a gap of two years.
The wicketkeeper faced harsh criticism on social media for his depleting form in the red-ball format. Responding to his critics after the end of play on day two, Rahul said his performance was the only way to shut the negative comments rather than responding to them on social media.
"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 said after becoming the first overseas batter to score two centuries at SuperSport Park.
Rahul's 101 guided tourists to 245 in their first essay of the opening Test. Virat Kohli scored the second-highest score of 38 in India's innings while Shreyas Iyer (31) and Shardul Thakur (24) could not capitalise on the start as Kagiso Rabada (5-59) and Nadre Burger (3-50) folded visitors innings for 245 on day two of the match.
Rahul admitted that constant social media scrutiny and abuse affected him mentally but keeping himself away from it is the only solution for the batter.
“As a person, as a cricketer, as an individual, you are challenged each day, each moment. Social media is a pressure. Today I have scored a hundred so people are singing praises. Three, four months ago, everybody was abusing me. It's part of the game, but I can't say it doesn't affect you. It does. The sooner you realise that staying away from it is good for your game and your mindset the better it is," he said.
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On his role as the middle-order batter, Rahul said he plans his batting as per the conditions to get the best out of him.
"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," he said.
"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," the wicketkeeper added.
On day three, South Africa will resume their innings from 256/5 with Dean Elgar batting on 140* and Marco Jensen on three not out. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj picked two scalps each before stumps on day two.
Rahul feels that bowlers need to hit the right length in the first session of the third day to end South Africa's innings early.
“(We’re) not going to think too far (ahead). Focus on the first session tomorrow. I think it’s important to come and bowl in the right areas. We saw there’s still a bit of help in the wicket. Try and get them out as soon as possible, and then we put some runs on board," he said.
“We just focus on the first session and take it from there and we'll have to see how the wicket plays as well. It’s getting easier to bat on, so it's important firstly to get those five wickets that are left and then put the big runs on board and then see where the game is,” Rahul added.