"I have never been suspended in school" - KL Rahul admits that 'Koffee With Karan' controversy scarred him massively

Team India's senior batter KL Rahul has admitted that the massive controversy which followed after his appearance on the popular talk show 'Koffee With Karan' scarred him massively. He explained that he had never been suspended even during his school days, so he did not know how to handle his suspension from the Indian cricket team.

A massive controversy erupted after all-rounder Hardik Pandya and Rahul's appearance on the talk show hosted by Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar, which was aired in early 2019. The duo was fined and handed suspensions as Pandya made some misogynist comments on the show. Although Rahul himself did not make any controversial statement, his responses were viewed as backing Pandya's thoughts.

While both Pandya and Rahul made a return to the side after a short suspension, the latter has admitted that the particular period was very tough for him. Speaking on entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath's YouTube channel, he said (as quoted by ANI):

"The [Koffee With Karan] interview was a different world altogether. That changed me. I was a very shy, soft-spoken boy growing up. And then I played for India, and for the next three-four years, I became very confident. I had no problem being a huge group of people. People would know I have been in a room with 100 people, because I would talk to everyone.

"Now I do not, because the interview scarred me massively. Getting suspended from the team... I have never been suspended in school, never been punished. It just never happened to know how to handle it," the 32-year-old went on to add.

The controversial 'Koffee With Karan' episode featuring Rahul and Pandya involved loose talks around relationships and crushes and led to plenty of backlash from fans and former cricketers.

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KL Rahul was part of the Indian team that lost ODI series in Sri Lanka

Rahul recently featured in the ODI series in Sri Lanka, which India lost 2-0. This was the Men in Blue's first bilateral one-day series loss to the Lankans since 1997. The right-handed batter featured in the first two matches of the series, registering scores of 31 and 0, respectively. He was dropped for the third ODI, which Team India lost by 110 runs.

One of India's most experienced batters in the current setup, Rahul has featured in 50 Tests, 77 ODIs and 72 T20Is, notching up 7979 international runs at an average of nearly 40.