KL Rahul
KL Rahul (Credits: BCCI)

Soon after the auction ended last ended, Kings XI Punjab named KL Rahul as their captain for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the last two seasons, Ravichandran Ashwin had led the side without much success. While Kings XI Punjab had shown promise in both the seasons, they missed out on making it to the playoffs.

And ahead of this year’s auction, Kings XI Punjab surprisingly decided to trade Ashwin to Delhi Capitals. They have now pinned their hopes on KL Rahul as they desperately search for their first-ever IPL trophy. Kings XI Punjab have not made it to the playoffs since their stunning run to the final of the competition in 2014.

Reason behind naming KL Rahul as captain:

In the last two seasons, KL Rahul has been Kings XI Punjab’s standout performer. He scored 659 runs in 2018 at an average of 54.91 and 593 runs in 2019 at an average of 53.90. But while KL Rahul is definitely one of the best batsmen in the IPL in the last few years, there is a question mark on his captaincy skills. The right-handed batsman is not really known for his captaincy.

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KL Rahul
KL Rahul (Credits: Twitter)

And newly appointed Kings XI Punjab coach Anil Kumble has now revealed the reason behind the franchise’s decision. Anil Kumble believes that naming Rahul as the captain was important because the franchise wanted to build the team around an Indian captain. He also said that elevation to captaincy will help KL Rahul ‘grow in stature’ and prove beneficial to his development not just in T20 cricket but other formats as well.

“We took a decision of elevating KL Rahul because I feel that an Indian captain is essential to build a franchise around a player and for me KL Rahul determines that,” Kumble told CricketNext. “In the last two years that he has been a part of Kings XI, he has been the best performer for Kings XI and he commands the respect from the other players and he is the best player for us in this format.

“I felt not just from a Kings XI perspective but from KL Rahul’s individual growth as well, this is the right time for him to take up this leadership position because I feel that this role is going to help him grow as a person, grow in stature, as a leader and it’ll also help him understand his game not just in this format but also help him understand from the other formats as well.

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“We know the ability and quality of KL Rahul and I’d like to see him play for India in all the three formats and I strongly believe that with this new role that we have given to KL Rahul, it’ll only help him grow as a player, as a person and it’ll only help him in his cricket,” he added.

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