KL Rahul recalled Virat Kohli’s reaction after the India batter signed for RCB. KL Rahul will lead LSG in their home game against CSK in the IPL 2024 on Friday. Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul celebrated his 32nd birthday on Thursday.
Tracing back the meteoric rise of the Indian wicketkeeper-batter, KL Rahul was recruited by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2013 season of the cash-rich league. The Indian batter made his debut for the Virat Kohli-starrer side against former champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2013.
KL Rahul early stint in IPL during his formative years.
For a 20-year-old Rahul, playing for RCB was a dream back then. Rahul fulfilled his dream by penning a deal with the Bengaluru heavyweights before the 2013 season. Interestingly, Rahul had two stints with RCB in the cash-rich league. Recalling his early days at the franchise, Rahul opened up about his lesser-known interaction with Bengaluru skipper Virat Kohli.
Rahul was added to the RCB roster after a remarkable 2013 Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. However, RCB and Rahul parted ways a season later as the Indian batter signed for Sunrisers Hyderabad at INR 1 crore. Rahul scored only 20 runs in the 2013 season of the cash-rich league. The former India vice-captain amassed 166 runs in 2014. Rahul made his Test debut in the same year.
Rahul returned to RCB for the 2016 season, during which he accumulated 397 runs in 14 appearances. The former RCB star was sold to Punjab Kings for a whopping sum of INR 11 crore. The IPL 2020 Orange Cap winner was later roped in as the leader of Lucknow Super Giants for the 2022 season.
In conversation with veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel, Rahul revealed Virat Kohli’s reaction after the Karnataka batter signed his first IPL deal with RCB.
Sensational batter KL Rahul reveals how Virat Kohli was instrumental in granting him the IPL contract in 2012.
While it is well documented that KL Rahul made his IPL debut in 2014, not many would know that he was in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) squad for the 2012 edition of the marquee tournament. Just 19 years of age at that time, Rahul opened up on how he was approached by RCB’s then team manager Avinash Vaidya and then called up to meet Virat Kohli for signing his first IPL contract.
Speaking to Ravichandran Ashwin in a video on the off-spinner’s YouTube channel, here’s what KL Rahul had to say about the conversation he had with Virat Kohli at that point
“Virat was there (ITC Gardenia), coach Ray Jennings and other support staff were also there and Virat only said, ‘Would you want to sign this contract and play for RCB?’ I was like, ‘Are you kidding? It was always my dream.’ And then he said ‘I’m just kidding. It’s not an option, just sign this contract.’ I signed and Virat said ‘It’s gonna be a crazy ride. You’re going to enjoy a lot in the next couple of months.'”
On his learnings at RCB that season, Rahul added ”
“The things that I learned (at RCB) in those two months, I mean the amount of time it would have taken me to be the player by playing just Ranji Trophy would have probably taken it 7-8 seasons. Those two months in the IPL I gained so much knowledge and experience and everything was fast-forwarded.”
KL Rahul didn’t play a single game during his first stint at RCB. However, he was a crucial component of their run to the final of the IPL 2016 season where they ended up losing to the SunRisers Hyderabad.
KL Rahul on playing for different IPL teams
Apart from RCB and SRH, KL Rahul also played for the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and currently leads the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). As a Bengaluru boy, Rahul accepted that initially even he felt that he would play his entire IPL career for RCB. However, he also accepted that the kind of learning he had from different teams that he had been in helped him immensely. On this, Rahul stated
“I would have also loved to play for Bangalore. I had started there, I would have liked to finish there and that was there in my head. But the beauty of IPL is that you get to go into different teams with different players.”
KL Rahul expressed his excitement at how things have been going at LSG and is hopeful that he will be able to build something special at the Super Giants and retire there.