KL Rahul admits 'Koffee with Karan' controversy left a deep impact on him; ‘It changed me completely, didn’t know how to handle it’

MUMBAI : Cricket players receiving criticism for their actions on the pitch is not unusual, but it is uncommon for an appearance on a talk show to cause widespread outrage on social media and result in a suspension. When they were Karan Johar's special guests on Koffee With Karan in 2019, that is exactly what happened to KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya.

They were suspended before the start of the Australia series at the time due to some of their comments on the show. Rahul recalled the situation with a sense of target it in a subsequent podcast interview.

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“The interview was a different world. That changed me. Completely changed me. I was a very shy, soft-spoken boy growing up. Then I played for India and became very confident, I had no problem being in a huge group of people. People will know I have been in a room of 100 people because I would talk to everyone,” said Rahul, who shared that the Koffee With Karan incident scarred him.

“Now I don’t (do that) because that interview scarred me massively. Getting suspended from the team. I have never been suspended in school, I have never been punished in school. All this never happened to me. I didn’t know how to handle it,”

he discussed this with Nikhil Kamath on his podcast. This one episode received so much backlash that the streamer had to take it off.

Rahul drew comparisons to his time in school, saying that he had never even been in problems before being kicked from the team and having to pay fines. “I did mischievous things in schools like chota mota (small things), but nothing to get me expelled from school or my parents have had to come. That was my first, and then you realise how bad it is,” said the cricket player.

While Rahul attempted to maintain calm, the BCCI also pulled him for remarks he made on the show, Hardik’s comments were seen as sexist. He later told the popular news portal that he was “bitter for a bit” and the episode “affected and bothered” him.

“I was angry, but I came out of it all as a more accepting person. I understood that certain things are sensitive, and no matter what you do, certain people will find the bad in you,” he said.

No other cricket players have appeared on Koffee with Karan since this episode.

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Credit- the Indian Express