Hyderabad:

Tripathi made his IPL debut during the tenth season of the league, where he was a part of the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), along with Dhoni. Ahead of his first match for the franchise, the former Indian captain helped Tripathi calm his nerves.

Indian cricketer Rahul Tripathi in his recent appearance on the House of Glory podcast, revealed how the former Indian cricket team captain MS. Dhoni’s advice helped him ahead of his IPL debut, back in 2017.

"Two days before I was going to play my first match, I was observing him in the dressing room. He called me and told me not to try or think about anything extra and asked me to play the way I was playing while training. Given that this advice came from a cricketer of that stature and the fact that I was going to play my debut match, it gave me a lot of confidence. It calmed my nerves," he said.

After a long wait, Rahul finally made his International debut for India during the T201 series against Sri Lanka in January 2023, at the age of 31. Recalling the testing times, the top-order batter revealed how he remained positive while waiting for his opportunity to play for India.

"I am blessed to have gotten the time to spend with him. It’s a dream of many people in the cricket world to share cricketing experiences with him and play alongside him. And by being with him, I have seen that he keeps it simple," he further added.

"It was a very emotional moment. After traveling with the team for 6-7 hours, I was finally able to make my T20I debut. Coincidentally, I made my debut at my home ground in Pune, where I have been playing cricket since childhood. So I think it was all written,” he added while recollecting the moment when he received his debut T20I cap.

"I never gave up. At times, it was tough and it felt that the dream to represent India was quite far away. But I decided to keep trying and always believed that one day I would get the opportunity I was waiting for. And I feel this belief was one of the reasons why I finally received the opportunity," said Rahul.

Apart from his hard work and patience, Rahul credited his success to the former Indian cricketer and the batting coach of the Indian team, Abhishek Nayar.

Sharing the experience of working with Nayar in Kolkata Knight Riders camp, Tripathi said, “I think the biggest and most important contribution in my journey has been made by Abhishek Nayar. I consider him my elder brother. Meeting him was the changing point of my life. We played together in BPCL for a year but when I joined KKR, it was a different experience with Dinesh Karthik also being there. I really enjoyed my time there. I call him Abhi dada and I feel it’s because of his contribution that I was able to fulfill my dream to play for India.”

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