It Came To Me As A Huge Surprise: KL Rahul Reveals Reaction On Test Captaincy In Johannesburg

Indian batter KL Rahul revealed his reaction when he was asked to lead the team in the second Test against South Africa in Johannesburg earlier in January.

India lost the three-match Test series 1-2 to the Proteas despite winning the first Test in Centurion, hence they lost the opportunity to win their first red-ball series in the Rainbow nation.

It came to me as a huge surprise to me: KL Rahul on Virat Kohli’s injury before the second Test

Just hours before the second Test, Kohli suffered an upper back spasm and was immediately ruled out from the team. Rahul was named vice-captain as Rohit Sharma was unavailable for the selection for the South Africa tour owing to his hamstring injury.

The Karnataka player took the onus to lead India in the second Test in Kohli’s absence, however, the visitors lost the Test as the Dean Elgar-led side chased 243 and won by seven wickets to level the series 1-1.

“Like everyone else, it came to me as a huge surprise to me. I was the vice-captain. As a vice-captain you slowly prepare yourself to become the captain in due time,” Rahul said on Red Bull Cricket Room on Clubhouse. 

“But then I didn’t expect it to come to me so quickly and in such circumstances: the morning of the game, Virat (Kohli) came to me in the bus and said, ‘My back is not feeling great, you might have to captain the team,” he added. 

Captaincy is an honour not many people get it: KL Rahul

Rahul led Punjab Kings in the last two seasons of the IPL before he joined Lucknow Super Giants, one of the two new franchises, and will be leading them in IPL 2022. Rahul also captained India in the ODI series but was unfortunate to suffer a 3-0 whitewash in his captaincy debut, he eventually lost four matches as the leader of the team during the South Africa tour.

Rahul mentioned that it is a matter of pride and honour for him to lead his country in any format on the international stage. The Indian opener also said that additional responsibility didn’t change his thought process.

“It didn’t put me off or my mindset didn’t change a lot. All of us, in some way or the other, when we play the game we are our own captain and in our head, we are playing situations like we are a captain,” he said. 

“When that ‘C’ in the team list comes, it does feel new and it is something you are proud of. It is an honour not many people get and it is something you always dream of and I was very happy, very grateful,” he concluded. 

After the Test series loss to South Africa, Kohli relinquished the leadership in the red-ball format just months after he had quit T20I captaincy and was removed from the leadership in the 50-over format.

Also Read: IPL 2022: KL Rahul Joins Lucknow Super Giants Bio-Bubble, Says “We Will Work Towards Winning”