One of the most viral images of last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) was that Kl Rahul was at the end of a spray of the owner of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Sanjeev Goenka, after a fierce defeat. Rahul was then LSG captain, and with LSG who did not qualify for the playoffs, it was not a happy ending to him or the team. When Rahul announced their retention before the IPL 2025 Mega auction, Rahul did not stay at LSG. In a thin veiled criticism, Goenka said: “We wanted players to win with the mindset, which would win the team that would win above their personal endeavor.” Rahul went to Delhi capitals at the auction, and life came a full circle when he was not 57 from 42, as the Axar Patel-led side comfortably chased LSG’s total of 159/6 on their home field in Lucknow. He had not yet played in the first game between the two to be there for the birth of his daughter, and fans had to wait for the return match for the long-awaited face between Rahul and his former team. There was no question of who came into the collision. Rahul’s turn not only helped Delhi Capitals win, it strengthened their march to a top two-final in the IPL 2025 league phase. Kl Rahul, version 3.0 in this IPL, Rahul revealed a rediscovered version of himself. Since IPL 2019, he has batted with a view to reducing risks and long. He had the most runs from any batter from IPL 2019 to IPL 2024, but he also had the most balls. To see more, he had the lowest strike rate below the top 10 runs during that period. The method was put into IPL 2025, and emphatically so. After the victory of Delhi Capitals against CSK in Chepuk, Rahul told Kevin Pietersen, mentor of Delhi Capitals, at IPLT20.com about his changed approach. “I worked on my white ball game for the past year or so very hard. Great screaming for Abhishek Nayar, I worked a lot with him,” Rahul said. “We spent hours and hours talking about my white ball game and how I could be better. We worked for hours and hours together in Mumbai. ‘ I think somewhere along the way I lost the pleasure of beating boundaries and hitting sixes. I wanted to take the game deep, deep, deep and it somehow got stuck in my head … so back to enjoying my cricket, not thinking too much about the game, and not thinking about taking it deeply – none of the things. Just look at the ball and try to be aggressive, try to put pressure on the bowler and put the opposition, and just enjoy beating boundaries. “It’s not just words. The command for Punjab and was in a quick form with 158.4. In a chase, and a modest one in it. However, he played the situation this time and did it through this tournament without losing his ability to be very aggressive. earlier method if the situation justifies it, and he chose the perfect stage to show it up.
IPL 2025, LSG vs DC: KL Rahul comes the full circle against Lucknow Super Giants | Mint
