Kannaur Lokesh Rahul (born 18 April 1992) is an Indian international cricketer. He is the current vice-captain of the India national cricket team in all formats. He plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket. He is the current captain of Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League. In the second test against South Africa in January 2022, Rahul captained India for the first time in test cricket and became the 34th Test captain of India.
![]() Rahul during the Cricket World Cup 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Kannaur Lokesh Rahul | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | (1992-04-18) 18 April 1992 (age 30) Bangalore, Karnataka, India[lower-alpha 1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | KL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Opening batsman wicket-Keeper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side |
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Test debut (cap 284) | 26 December 2014 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 11 January 2022 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ODI debut (cap 213) | 11 June 2016 v Zimbabwe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last ODI | 9 February 2022 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ODI shirt no. | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T20I debut (cap 63) | 18 June 2016 v Zimbabwe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last T20I | 19 November 2021 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
T20I shirt no. | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2010–present | Karnataka | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2013 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2014–2015 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2016 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2018–2021 | Punjab Kings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2022 | Lucknow Super Giants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: ESPNcricinfo, 9 February 2022 |
Rahul made his international debut in 2014 and scored his maiden Test century in his second Test match. He was the first Indian to score a century on men's One Day International debut,[3] and the third Indian cricketer to score a century in all three formats of international cricket.
KL Rahul was born on 18 April 1992 to KN Lokesh and Rajeshwari in Bangalore. His father Lokesh, who was born in Kananur, Magadi taluk, is a professor and former director at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK)[4][5] in Mangalore. His mother Rajeshwari is a professor at Mangalore University.[6] Lokesh, who was a fan of the cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, wanted to name his son after Gavaskar's, but mistook Rohan Gavaskar's name as Rahul.[7]
Rahul grew up in Mangalore, completing his high school at NITK English Medium School and pre-university at St. Aloysius College.[8] He started cricket training at the age of 10, and, two years later, started playing matches for both Bangalore United Cricket Club and his club in Mangalore.[9] At age 18 he moved to Bangalore to study at Jain University and pursue his cricket career.[10][11][12]
Rahul is a Right-handed batsman who can occasionally do wicket-keeping as well. He is a flexible batsman. He opens the batting in T20Is and Tests and currently plays in middle order for India in ODIs. A tall, elegant right-hand batsman who can keep wicket in a crisis, KL Rahul is among the most highly rated opening batsmen in India's next generation.[13]He is naturally an aggressive batsman who can switch the gears according to the situation.
"He (Rahul) has been absolutely terrific in the last couple of IPLs. Look at the rate at which he has been scoring and he plays authentic cricket shots. He plays the occasional scoop or reverse sweep but, because he has got all the normal cricketing shots in the book, he doesn’t have to resort to these other shots."
Brian Lara heaped praise for KL Rahul, when he was asked to name the current batsman who he loves to watch:
"That's easy, KL Rahul. If you are talking about the two teams that are playing, KL Rahul is definitely someone for me who I would pay to watch bat. I just love watching KL Rahul. Especially in the T20 version of the game, when you see a guy batting with the technique and ability to score runs with traditional batting shots, it's just exceptional to watch.He is an interesting one for me because if you wind the clock back 2 or 3 years ago, he was probably more an out-and-out technically correct Test match batsman. But what he has been able to do with his T20 batting in the last two IPLs, has been absolutely unbelievable. He is turning himself now to be a better white-ball player than he is a Test match player and that doesn't happen very often."
Rahul made his first-class cricket debut for Karnataka in the 2010–11 season. In the same season he represented his country at the 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, scoring a total of 143 runs in the competition.[16] He made his debut in the Indian Premier League in 2013, for Royal Challengers Bangalore.[17] During the 2013–14 domestic season he scored 1,033 first-class runs, the second highest scorer that season.[citation needed]
Playing for South Zone in the final of the 2014–15 Duleep Trophy against Central Zone, Rahul scored 185 off 233 balls in the first innings and 130 off 152 in the second. He was named the player of the match and selection to the Indian Test squad for the Australian tour followed.
Returning home after the Test series, Rahul became Karnataka's first triple-centurion, scoring 337 against Uttar Pradesh. He went on to score 188 in the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy final against Tamil Nadu and finished the season with an average of 93.11 in the nine matches he played.
Rahul made his Test debut in the 2014 Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He replaced Rohit Sharma and was presented with his Test cap by MS Dhoni. He batted at number six and made three runs in the first innings; in the second innings, he played at number 3 and made only 1 run but retained his place for the next Test at Sydney where he opened the innings with Murali Vijay and made 110 runs, his maiden international hundred.
He was part of the 15-man squad for the Indian tour of Bangladesh in June 2015 but withdrew due to Dengue fever. He returned to the side for the first Test of the Sri Lankan tour after Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, scoring his second Test century and winning the Man of the Match award. During the match, he kept the wickets after Wriddhiman Saha was injured.[18]
Rahul was named in the squad to tour Zimbabwe in 2016 and made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club and scored unbeaten 100*(115) on debut. Thus, he became the first Indian cricketer to score a century on ODI debut. He was adjudged the man of the series on his debut ODI. series[19][20] He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut as well later in the same tour.[21]
Rahul was picked in the Indian squad for the tour of West Indies in 2016. Rahul played in the second Test at Jamaica and scored a strokeful 158, his highest Test score then. In the process, he became the first Indian opener to score a century in his debut Test in the West Indies.[22] In the first match of the T20I series in the United States, he scored an unbeaten century 110* off 51 balls in a losing cause, which was the second-fastest century (46 balls) ever and the fastest by an Indian.[23][24] He also set the world record for being the only player to score hundred in first innings as opener in both Tests and ODIs.[25]
Rahul set the record for the fastest batsman to have scored centuries in all three formats in just 20 innings surpassing the record of Ahmed Shehzad who took 76 innings.[26] He is the first player in T20I history to score a century (110*) while batting at number 4 position or lower. On 3 July 2018, Rahul smashed his second T20 International ton against England.[27] He is also the first Indian batsman to be dismissed hit- wicket in T20Is.[28]
On 11 January 2019, Hardik Pandya and K. L. Rahul were suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following controversial comments they made on the Indian talk show Koffee with Karan earlier in the month.[29] They were both sent home ahead of the ODI series against Australia and the fixtures of India's tour to New Zealand.[30] On 24 January 2019, after lifting the suspension on Pandya and Rahul, the BCCI announced that Rahul would re-join the squad for India A matches.[31]
In April 2019, he was named in India's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.[32][33] He played at number 4 in the first 2 games but got back to opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma as Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to injury. In the first match as opener in the world cup against Pakistan, Rahul scored 57 and put up 136 run opening stand alongside Rohit Sharma. In the last league game against Sri Lanka, KL scored 112 runs which was his maiden hundred for India in the World Cup.
Overall, KL scored 361 runs with 2 fifties and 1 hundred in the tournament and finished as India's third highest run scorer in the tournament after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. [34]
Due to lack of form in the Test format, Rahul was dropped from the Test squad for the Home tests against South Africa.[35] However, he rose through the ranks in the limited over formats.
In December 2019, in the first T20I match against the West Indies, Rahul scored his 1,000th run in T20I cricket.[36] He scored 62 (40) in the first T20I against West Indies. He scored 91 (56) in the third T20I for which he was adjudged the Man of the match. He scored his 3rd ODI century in the 2nd ODI against West Indies. In the 2 match T20I series against Sri Lanka, KL scored 45 in the first match and 54 in the second T20I. He continued his good form ahead.
In January 2020, Rahul made 80 (52) batting at number five in the second ODI against Australia and was rewarded as the man of the match.[37]
In India's tour of New Zealand in 2019–20, Rahul was declared man of the series in the five-match T20I series for scoring 224 runs at an average of 56. He was also the stand in captain in the 5th T20I after Rohit Sharma suffered a hamstring injury during the 1st innings. In the ODI series against New Zealand, he scored 88* (64) in the first ODI and scored his fourth ton in ODIs, 112 (113) in the third ODI.[38]
In October 2020, Rahul was named as India's vice captain for the ODI and T20I series against Australia. Rahul had a moderate ODI and T20I series against Australia. He made 77 against Australia in the second ODI and 51 in the first T20I. India lost the ODI series 2–1, but won the T20I series by the same margin.
Rahul was included in the test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but was not picked in the playing XI for the first two Tests. He injured himself during practice and was ruled out of the remaining part of the tour.
As a result, he also missed the home Test series against England in February 2021. He returned to the national side for the T20I and ODI series against England. There was a dip in his form in the T20I series. He returned to form in the ODI series scoring a match-winning 62* and was involved in a 100-run partnership with debutant Krunal Pandya who scored a fifty. He continued his form by scoring 108 runs in the second ODI and was involved in another 100-run partnership with Rishabh Pant.[39]
Rahul was named in India's test squad for their tour of England in 2021. As Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal were injured, KL Rahul returned to test cricket and opened alongside teammate Rohit Sharma.In the first test at Nottingham, Rahul scored 84 and 26. He went on to score a ton i.e., 129 (250) at Lords and was awarded as the man of the match in the second test. Rahul scored 315 runs in eight innings of four matches played and was the second highest run scorer for India in the tour with Rohit Sharma being the highest run scorer for the team.[40]
In September 2021, Rahul was named in India's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.[41] He was the highest run scorer for India (11th overall) in the whole tournament, scoring 194 runs which included three consecutive fifties. He also scored the tournament's joint fastest fifty in just 18 balls, against Scotland.[42][43]
After Virat Kohli stepped down as Indian T20i captain, KL was appointed the Vice-captain of Indian Cricket Team in T20i as former Vice-captain Rohit Sharma was appointed the new Captain of T20i format. Later, KL was appointed ODI's vice-captain as well due to change of captaincy in white ball format of Indian team.
In December 2021, Rahul was named as India's test vice-captain for the away series against South Africa after India's regular vice-captain Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the series. Rahul was also named as the ODI captain for the One Day series of the same tour as India's regular ODI captain Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. In the first test match against South Africa in December 2021, he scored 123 in India's first innings and 23 in India's second innings. For this match-winning performance, he was awarded the Man of the Match award.
In the second test against South Africa in January 2022, Rahul captained India for the first time in test cricket and became the 34th Test captain of India. He scored a half-century on captaincy debut. Despite his best efforts, Rahul couldn't lead the team to victory and India lost the second Test by seven wickets. In first ODI against South Africa, he made his debut in ODI Captaincy and became the 26th ODI captain of India, however India lost the series 3–0 to South Africa.
In February 2022, During the second ODI of India against the West Indies, Rahul scored 49 (48) and completed 6000 runs in International cricket across all formats. In the same ODI, Rahul sustained an upper left hamstring strain, and was ruled out of the next ODI as well as the upcoming T20Is series against the West Indies.[44]
Rahul made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as a wicket-keeper batsman during the 2013 competition. Ahead of the 2014 IPL, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 1 crore, before returning to RCB ahead of the 2016 IPL season.
In the 2016 IPL season with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rahul finished the season as the 11th highest run-scorer, and RCB's third, with 397 runs from 14 matches. For his performances in the 2016 IPL season, he was named as wicket keeper in the Cricinfo and Cricbuzz IPL XI.[45][46] Rahul missed the 2017 season due to a shoulder injury.[47]
In the 2018 IPL Auction, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) for INR 11 crore, the joint-third highest price. In the team's first match of the season he scored the fastest 50 in IPL history, taking 14 balls to reach the milestone and breaking the record of Sunil Narine.[48][49]
KL in total scored 659 runs in the season at a strike rate of 158.41 and an average of 54.91. He finished the season as third highest run scorer in the 2018 IPL Season. For his performances in the 2018 IPL season, he was named in the Cricinfo and Cricbuzz IPL XI.[50][51]
After making scores of 90+ three times during 2018, he reached his maiden IPL century in 2019, scoring 100 not out from 64 against Mumbai Indians.In total KL scored 593 runs in the season with average of 53.90 and strike rate of 135.38. He finished the season as second highest run scorer in the season after David Warner(692 runs). For his performances in the 2019 IPL season, he was named in the Cricinfo IPL XI.[52]
On 19 December 2019, Rahul was officially announced as captain of the Kings XI Punjab for the 2020 IPL, after former captain Ravichandran Ashwin was traded to Delhi Capitals.[53]
In the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on 24 September 2020, he scored an unbeaten 132* off just 69 balls. He was declared the man of the match for this record breaking innings. With that century, he broke the record of the most runs scored by an Indian batsman in an IPL match.[54] He also broke the record of the most runs scored by a captain in an IPL match.[55]
However, team performance was very poor as they lost 6 out of their first 7 games with some nail-biting games. But suddenly team made terrific comeback as they won next 5 consecutive games against top teams on Points table. Even though they failed to qualify for playoffs finishing at sixth position once again.
In the IPL 2020 season, he scored 670 runs in all the 14 matches he played. He scored 5 fifties and 1 hundred with the highest score of an unbeaten 132 against RCB and also had an average of 55.83.[56]
Rahul won the Orange Cap in IPL 2020 for scoring most runs in IPL 2020 (670 runs). He was also awarded as the Dream 11 Game changer of the season.[57]
KL Rahul was retained as the captain by the Punjab Kings ahead of the 2021 IPL season.[58] KL scored 91(50) in their first fixture against Rajasthan Royals.KL scored match winning 60*(52) against Mumbai Indians and 91*(57) against Royal Challengers Bangalore and won Man of the Match in both the games.
In the final league game of Punjab Kings, KL scored unbeaten 98*(42) against Chennai Super Kings, helping the team get the target in 13 overs to give them a slight chance to qualify, however, the team ended up at sixth position. He scored 626 runs in IPL 2021, finishing as the team's highest scorer in the season.[59]
Prior to the 2022 season, Rahul parted ways with the Punjab Kings and was drafted by Lucknow Super Giants as their captain for INR 17Cr making him the joint highest paid cricketer in the Indian Premier League alongside Virat Kohli. On 16 April 2022, Rahul scored his first century for Lucknow (103* off 60) against the Mumbai Indians and became the first and only player to score a century in one's 100th IPL match.[60] He followed this up with another unbeaten century(103* off 62) against the same opposition eight days later.[61]
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India squad – 2018 Asia Cup – Champions (7th title) | ||
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India squad – 2019 Cricket World Cup semi-finalists | ||
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Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Navdeep Saini and Ishant Sharma as stand-by players for the team. |
Karnataka cricket team – current squad | |
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Lucknow Super Giants – current squad | |
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