KL Rahul recalls getting an opportunity to represent the Bangalore franchise

Star Team India batter KL Rahul has recently shared that he always wanted to play for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) when the Indian Premier League (IPL) started as well. He also revealed that being from Bangalore himself, RCB is very dear to him. However, Rahul has played for many teams in the IPL over the years and he played for the RCB franchise in 2013 and 2016. He then also played for Punjab Kings (PBKS) from 2018 to 2021 and captained LSG in the last two IPL seasons as well.

In a recent interview, Times Now quoted him as telling SG Cricket, “RCB gave me the opportunity to showcase my talent when I was young. I am also from Bangalore, so I always dreamt of playing for RCB when the IPL started. I was lucky that I got to play for them for a few years, so RCB is very close to my heart.”

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However, KL Rahul took part in 19 matches for RCB, scoring 417 runs which came at an average of 37.90 and a strike rate of 145.29 with four fifties as well. In the 2016 IPL season, he hit 397 runs in 14 games which came at an average of 44.11 and a strike rate of 146.49 with a best of 68* as well. While KL Rahul has been keeping for India in limited overs, he will also don the keeping gloves in the Tests against South Africa as well. And, former India batter Gautam Gambhir wants Rahul to keep wickets in the home series against England as well.

“I hope this is not a one-off situation because that would be unfair. His real challenge will not be wicketkeeping in South Africa, but on rank turners, in that five Test match series against England when Ashwin, Jadeja and Axar will be bowling. No challenge is bigger than that. If you are looking at these two Test matches, then I would rather not play him because I would look at long-term plans,” Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports. “India don’t have a long-term plan right now because you only have KS Bharat and Rahul now. But probably it is the right way of going about things in allowing KL Rahul do the job until Rishabh Pant returns.”

The India vs South Africa Test series will start with the Boxing Day clash at SuperSport Park in Centurion as well.