KL Rahul submits official bid to Gautam Gambhir for T20 World Cup 2026

KL Rahul has made a bold statement about his ambition to return to India’s T20I plans after having improved the IPL 2025 season in terms of strike rate ahead of his next assignment in England. With Delhi Capitals already out of the IPL 2025 playoffs, KL Rahul’s campaign in the league came to an early end.

The Karnataka batter finished the season as Delhi Capitals’ top scorer, smashing 539 runs in 13 innings at an impressive strike rate of nearly 150, which clearly shows that he isn’t done with T20s just yet. He has been consistently scoring runs—520 runs in IPL 2024, 616 runs in IPL 2022, 626 runs in IPL 2021, and 670 in IPL 2020—which earned him the Orange Cap.

KL Rahul eyes T20I comeback with blazing IPL 2025 form

But Rahul’s strike rate has always been an issue and became a hurdle in his T20I journey. This time, he silenced doubters with a much more aggressive approach, proving that he has adapted to the changing pace of T20 cricket.

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For years, Rahul was criticized for playing it too safe, but now, he has unleashed a version of himself that could finally reclaim a spot in India’s T20I squad.

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Now, Rahul has a clear goal in his mind, and that is to make it to India’s squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka early next year. However, he hasn’t played a T20I game for India since 2022, but his red-hot form and evolving style might just put him back in contention.

Yes, T20 World Cup 2026 is in my mind: KL Rahul

KL Rahul told Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports: “Yes, I want to get back in the T20 team, and the World Cup is in my mind, but for now it's just trying to enjoy how I'm playing right now.”

Meanwhile, Rahul has opened up about how much white-ball cricket has changed in the past year. The right-handed batter said that around 12 to 15 months ago, he realized that the game was moving faster and teams that hit more boundaries were winning more often.

Rahul admitted that in the modern T20 era, playing safe isn’t enough; teams need to be aggressive and take more risks to stay ahead.

KL Rahul reflects on T20 evolution and embraces modern demands

Rahul also revealed that he was happy with his performances earlier but now understands that strike rate and power-hitting matter more than ever in the shorter format of the game.

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He wasn’t part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning team in 2024 and has been out of the T20I team since 2022, which gave him time to reflect on his T20 game.

The Indian middle-order batter further explained, “So, overall, just sitting and thinking about where I can get better, where the game's gone, what I need to do to catch up with the game, what I can do to perform and get back in the T20 team, and what I can do to become an important player for my team in ODI and T20 overall in white-ball cricket.”

Abhishek Nayar really helped me: KL Rahul

During this period, Rahul worked closely with coaches, especially Abhishek Nayar, who played a key role in helping him rethink his approach and work on specific areas of his batting. He signed off by saying, “Just sitting and thinking about these things, I've come up with certain things, obviously with the help of coaches that I've worked with.

Abhishek Nayar is one of the guys I've worked with in the last 12 months quite a lot. He's come into the Indian team as a batting coach [but has been removed since], so I spent a lot of time with him, and he really helped in helping me change my thinking and helping me work on my game.”