Virender Sehwag Gave Us the Freedom to Express Ourselves: KL Rahul

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Team India opener KL Rahul has lavished praise on Kings XI mentor Virender Sehwag.

Rahul, who had a tremendous season with the bat stated that Sehwag gave each of the cricketers enough freedom to go and express themselves on the field. It, in turn, helped them improve the quality of their game.

Punjab, who was captained by Ravichandran Ashwin got off to a sensational start. They won five of their first six games.

However, they were unable to carry their momentum and was eventually knocked out of the tournament after losing their last group game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

They will surely look to give their best, next year.

“I did go up to Sehwag and spoke to him at different times. He kept his game very simple and that’s his advice to all the players — to go out, trust your gut feeling and enjoy the game with a smile on our face. That’s the kind of freedom he has given to everybody, not just me, be it, batsmen or bowlers,” IANS quoted the right-hand batsman Rahul as saying.

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Rahul praises Ashwin for his captaincy skills 

“And this is the brand of cricket we want to play as a team, not always keeping in mind the result. We want to be fearless and aggressive. In a tournament like the IPL, sometimes it will work and at other times it won’t. But we have to keep going,” Rahul maintained.

Despite getting off to a brilliant start in the tournament, Punjab finished at the penultimate spot with just 12 points.

“Ashwin, I think, has been great. He spends a lot of time with the youngsters. He makes it clear that he expects the team to be fearless and play with instinct. Ashwin is quite proactive on the field and has given players including me a lot of freedom to express myself on the field and give my best,” Rahul added.

Aggressive batsman Rahul also heaped praises on his new opening partner Chris Gayle while describing him as the most destructive Twenty20 opener in the world cricket.

“He is the most destructive T20 opener in the world. It is a privilege to open the batting with him and it makes my life so much easier,” Rahul said.

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