Rohit Sharma’s Role in KL Rahul’s Comeback: Nayar Shares Behind-the-Scenes Story
Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar recently opened up about the behind-the-scenes work that helped KL Rahul find a more aggressive rhythm in his batting. Over the past six months, Rahul has been in fine touch delivering strong performances across tours in Australia, the Champions Trophy, IPL 2025 and now during the England series. Nayar, who parted ways with the coaching setup earlier this year, revealed that it took several long chats with Rahul to help him realise the need for a tactical adjustment in his game.
In a chat with ESPNcricinfo, Abhishek Nayar revealed that it was then-captain Rohit Sharma who encouraged him to help KL Rahul tap into a more attacking style of play. Sharma believed Rahul had a big role to play in India’s upcoming campaigns and wanted him to play with greater intent. Nayar shared that his task was to bring out that fearless version of Rahul that the team needed going forward.
"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," Nayar said.
“He Trusted Me”: Nayar on Convincing Rahul to Adapt
Nayar said KL Rahul knew how important the Australia series was for his career. After failing in the first Test against New Zealand and getting dropped for the next two, Rahul started to feel the pressure. Nayar spent hours talking to him, trying to convince him to change his playing style and trust a new approach even though it was different from what Rahul believed in. At the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rahul was almost playing to save his spot. In the home series against New Zealand just before that, he got out cheaply in the first innings on a tough pitch in Bengaluru. In the second innings, he watched Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant bat aggressively, but was then dismissed again by a great delivery with the second new ball. After that, he didn’t play in the rest of the series.
"He spoke about what he's been doing and what worked for him in the past. And then I had a certain thought process, which was very different from his. Over hours and hours of conversation and trying to make him understand where I came from, eventually I got him to a place where he sort of trusted me to do certain things with him in regards to how he practises, in regards to trusting certain changes in his tactics, in regards to his stance, where he stands in the crease, what guard he takes." Nayar added.
“He shared what had worked for him in the past, and I had a completely different point of view,” Nayar said. “We spent hours talking, and slowly I helped him understand my perspective. Eventually, he started trusting me whether it was changing the way he practiced, tweaking his tactics, adjusting his stance, or even where he stood in the crease and the guard he took. It was all about getting him to try something new and believe in it.”
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