Indian cricket team star KL Rahul opened up about the short shelf life of an athlete’s career and spoke about his thoughts regarding retirement. Rahul did not have a good outing with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and he even struggled to find a spot in the Indian cricket team for quite a few games. In a recent interaction, Rahul said that he has started planning his life after the eventual retirement and even said that he can already see the “end of the tunnel”. 

“There is no insecurity, but there is a feeling that all this ends, and for me it ends very quickly. If you are fit enough, you can play till 40. That is the maximum someone has played. Yes, there is MS Dhoni, who is 43 and is still playing. You can play the IPL and all of that, but not at the international level for too long. There is a fear and realisation that the shelf life is really small for an athlete, and you need to make the most of it within whatever time you have,” said KL Rahul on a podcast on Nikhil Kamath’s YouTube channel also featuring Kriti Sanon and Badshah.

“For me, the anxiety was when I hit 30. I could see the end of the tunnel. Till I was 29, I could not see that. Some weird thing happened on my 30th birthday. I could see I have 10 more years to play cricket, and that gave me anxiety, and that is the first time I felt like ‘This comes to an end at some point.’ All I have done all my life is ‘Cricket, Cricket, Cricket,’ without imagining this comes to an end. Now I can see it. It is not too far away,” he added.

Rahul also said that he has started thinking about businesses and investments as the India cricketer believes that his earnings will take a major hit after retirement.

“I don’t know. That is part of the reason I have started thinking about businesses and investing my money right. So that my life after cricket is taken care of. I know there will be a huge dip in the amount I earn after I retire. COVID for me happened at the right time where it gave me time to sit and research how I can invest my money. You generally lean on your family to guide you when you start earning, but I did not have that. All this is new for my father too.”

“I met some good people. I have some good friends who gave my guidance. I am trying to set up a few things before I retire so that when I retire that transition from an athlete to doing something in business will be smooth and make me happier than not knowing what to do,” Rahul further revealed.