KL Rahul got a century on his return to cricket after a long injury layoff, but that was not before the wicketkeeper-batter had to battle nerves to settle down.

The 31-year-old, who had suffered a debilitating thigh injury during the IPL which later necessitated surgery, smashed an unconquered 106-ball 111 to play a vital role in India’s massive 228-run win over Pakistan on Monday.

“Obviously, this is my first international match after a long time. I played a couple of practice games, but we all know the intensity is not the same. So when I walked in, I had that initial nervousness,” Rahul admitted while speaking to Star Sports.

“It took me 10-15 balls to just calm myself down and get my feet moving, get my mind thinking of the right things. Then, when I hit one or two boundaries, all those things, the fogginess in your clarity, went away, and it became like before.”

With the match being played over two days because of rain interruptions, it further complicated the situation for Rahul, who had to resume the Indian innings on Monday with Virat Kohli as rain stopped play after 24.1 overs on Sunday.

“I was looking at the ball, looking at the situation, and you see what you have to do. But just when I got my rhythm, it started raining... and I had to wait for a whole day,” Rahul said.

“Today we came back and had to wait for the innings to start. So I had to restart the innings again. So, again, the first 10-15 balls were sort of nervy, and after that, once you start to hit a few balls in the middle, you forget about those things, and then you start thinking about where you can score runs and what I have to do.”

Rahul found success on Tuesday as well as he made a 44-ball 39 on a turning wicket against Sri Lanka.

With inputs from PTI