KL Rahul, the captain of the Lucknow Super Giants, recently shared some intriguing insights into his early days at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and his interactions with Virat Kohli during his time with the franchise.
Rahul, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on Thursday, traced back the meteoric rise of his career to when he was recruited by RCB for the 2013 season of the IPL. Playing for RCB was a dream come true for the 20-year-old Rahul at the time. He made his debut for the team against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2013.
In a conversation with veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel, Rahul recalled a lesser-known interaction with Kohli after signing his first IPL contract with RCB. “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,'” Rahul shared.
Rahul’s stint with RCB was short-lived as he parted ways with the franchise after a season. He signed for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014 before returning to RCB for the 2016 season. Reflecting on his time at RCB, Rahul emphasized the valuable lessons he learned during his two-month stint with the team. He mentioned that the experience and knowledge he gained in those two months would have taken him 7-8 seasons to acquire if he had just played Ranji Trophy cricket.
Despite his successful stints with other teams, Rahul expressed that he would have loved to finish his IPL career at RCB. “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,” Rahul concluded.
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