Sports Desk, AnyTV, New Delhi
Published by: Rohit Raj
Updated Sat, 26 Feb 2022 06:47 PM IST
Summary
Lucknow Supergiants captain KL Rahul made his IPL debut in 2013. At that time he was known as Test specialist. Slowly the times changed and Rahul also transformed himself as a ‘T20 Specialist’.
KL Rahul and Virat Kohli
– Photo : Social Media
hear the news
Expansion
Lucknow Supergiants captain KL Rahul made his IPL debut in 2013. At that time he was known as Test specialist. Slowly the times changed and Rahul also transformed himself as a ‘T20 Specialist’. Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli is also very impressed with Rahul. He was asked in a program that in which two players he saw the most potential under his captaincy, then Virat named Rahul and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Chahal made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2011, but after joining RCB, he got the most opportunities and he dominated. On the other hand, when RCB’s team reached the final in 2016, Rahul scored 397 runs in 14 matches at an average of 44.11. During this his strike rate was 146.69.
Kohli said on ‘RCB Podcast’, “Only two people’s names come to my mind. They are KL (Rahul) and Yuji (Yuzvendra Chahal). Rahul was with RCB in 2013 along with Karun and Mayank. He was never a player who was seen as a T20 specialist. Rahul was part of Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2015 and Avinash Vaidya was our manager earlier. He approached me as he was in touch with Rahul. Rahul was not getting opportunities to play. I saw him play for India.”
Rahul made his debut for RCB in 2013. Later he moved to Sunrisers Hyderabad team. There he did not get much chance to play. This matter was conveyed to Kohli. Virat further said, “He was playing for Sunrisers and he was not getting opportunities at the right time. In the opportunities I got, I felt that they were playing under pressure. You could see that Rahul was trying to prove himself.”
Virat further said, “When the opportunity came, I thought this player had incredible talent. Maybe playing for RCB will make things easier for him. There he was playing in front of his home audience. I had Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers in the team. If KL can play his part, he can grow in confidence.”
“Rahul didn’t have to be the focal point. He wasn’t even a youngster who had to prove himself. He showed what he could do. The way he batted that season, it’s like a player for me in a player. There was a change that was going to be tremendous in six months.” Rahul has performed brilliantly since 2016. He scored 659 runs in 2018, 593 in 2019, 670 in 2020 and 626 in 2021. He got the Orange Cap in 2020.