We are the most feared side in India: Rahul

Bengaluru: Opening batsman KL Rahul, who battled a hamstring injury to score a near-double in the Ranji Trophy final, said the thought of losing the contest to Tamil Nadu pushed him to the limits.
“That’s the thing about cricket. You might have a torn muscle or a broken bone but once you see your team down in the dumps you don’t really think about the injuries or any other pain,” said Rahul, who came out to bat on the second day after retiring hurt the previous day.
Rahul slammed 188 and put on a record 386 runs for the sixth wicket with triple centurion Karun Nair. “When I started batting the only thing that was on my mind was to bail out our team. May be the injury helped in a way as I kept it a lot more simple. It was a crucial final and we wanted to make sure we never gave Tamil Nadu the edge,” said the Mangaluru lad, who emerged as the fourth highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy this season with 838 runs from just five matches at an impressive average of 93.11.
Rahul, who will not be part of the Karnataka team for the Irani Cup title defence against Rest of India – beginning at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on March 17 – due to a hamstring injury, said he would miss not being part of the champion side. “It is disappointing to sit out this match. I love being in the dressing room and performing for the team. We are the most feared team in the country and have always been aggressive. We don’t like to let go that advantage,” said Rahul, who slammed a triple hundred (337) against Uttar Pradesh here.
Recalling the challenges in the Test series against Australia, where he scored a century, Rahul said: “I didn’t do too well in the first Test in Melbourne, so I wanted to make amends in the second in Sydney. I thought of playing as long as I could. Runs weren’t coming easily. I stayed calm and focused. I was happy with the end result,” he said.
Karnataka squad for Irani Cup: R Vinay Kumar (captain), Robin Uthappa, R Samarth, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Shreyas Gopal, Shishir Bhavane, Udit Patel, A Mithun, S Arvind, HS Sharath, J Suchith, KC Avinash, Mayank Agarwal, CM Gautam. Batting coach: J Arunkumar. Bowling coach: Mansur Ali Khan. Manager: B Siddaramu.