Superstar cricketer KL Rahul said he is looking forward to the Indian Premier League mega auction, adding that he would be happy to return to Royal Challengers Bengaluru and play in front of home crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Rahul said he is looking forward to playing for a team where is ‘loved and respected’ after parting ways with Lucknow Super Giants.
In a move that shocked many, LSG decided not to retain KL Rahul for the 2025 season, ending a three-year association with their former captain. Rahul is back in the mix for the mega auction, scheduled to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24 and 25.
Rahul is expected to trigger bidding wars and end up as one of the costliest buys in the mega auction. RCB, who have one of the biggest purses after having retained only three players (Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal), are in the fray to go for the wicketkeeper-batter, who also brings in the additional trait of captaincy.
“I most enjoyed playing at RCB. It’s home. You get to spend a lot of time to spend at home. I know the Chinnaswamy really well, I have grown up playing there. So, yeah, I really enjoyed playing at RCB,” KL Rahul told Star Sports in an interview ahead of the auction.
“Of course (Would you like to be back at RCB?) Bengaluru is home. People there know me as a local Kannada boy. Would be nice to go back there and get an opportunity. But, yeah, it’s an auction year, you can go anywhere,” he said.
Rahul began his IPL career at RCB, playing with the likes of Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle, in 2013 and spent two years at SunRisers Hyderabad before reuniting with Virat Kohli in 2016. Rahul played a key role in RCB’s run to the final with 397 runs in 14 matches.
Rahul then went on to play for the Punjab Kings where he became captain in 2020. The Karnataka wicketkeeper-batter was made the captain of Lucknow Super Giants in their inaugural year and he led them for two more seasons before returning to the auction pool.
I WILL NOT ASK SOMEONE FOR CAPTAINCY: RAHUL
Rahul said captaincy would not be a ‘make or break’ for him, saying he is open to being flexible at his new franchise.
“I would never go and ask someone for it (captaincy). If you feel that my leadership skills are good enough, and you find something good in the way I play my cricket, in the way I handle myself and in the way that I handled the teams that I’ve captained in the last four or five years, and if you find it worthy, then, of course, I’m happy to do it, but it’s not something that is a make-a-break for me,” Rahul said.
“I just want to be part of a team that has a good environment, and you feel loved, cared for and respected in that environment and everyone on that franchise as a one, like one single goal to win. If that’s there, then that’s a perfect fit.
“I have always been flexible in my head, whether it’s opening, whether middle order, the lower-order, keeping, fielding any of it. I am okay with any rule or any responsibility that is given to me,” he added.
I WANTED TO START FRESH: RAHUL
Rahul, who led the LSG in the last three seasons, elaborated on his exit from the franchise, saying he wanted to move on to a ‘lighter’ team environment where he could find ‘more freedom’.
“I just felt like I wanted to start fresh, to explore my options, and to play where I could find more freedom and a lighter, more balanced team atmosphere. The pressure in the IPL is already so high, but when you look at teams like Gujarat and CSK, even when they win or lose, they seem balanced, and their dressing rooms are calm. That’s really important for me as a player—it gives all the players the best chance to perform,” he added.
“We tried to create that atmosphere at LSG with Andy Flower and GG (Gautam Gambhir) initially, and then last year with Justin, and it was a brilliant atmosphere in the change room. But sometimes you just need to move on and find something that works better for you.”
