Kannaur Lokesh Rahul (; born 18 April 1992) is an Indian

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

who plays for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. He is a right-handed

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

batter. He plays for

Delhi Capitals The Delhi Capitals, formerly the Delhi Daredevils, also known as DC, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Delhi that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports. Its home groun ...

in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

and for

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

in domestic cricket. Rahul made his international debut in 2014 against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in the Boxing Day Test in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Two years after his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut, Rahul made his

One-Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

debut in 2016 against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

, where he scored his first century by hitting a six on the last ball to reach 100* (115) from 94 (114), which was also the only six of the entire match. Rahul is the first and only Indian cricketer to score an ODI

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

on his debut. On the same tour, he made his

T20I Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

debut.

Early and personal life

Rahul was born on 18 April 1992 to K. N. Lokesh and Rajeshwari in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

. His father Lokesh, who hails from Kannanur in

Magadi Magadi is a town and taluk located in Bengaluru South District , Karnataka, India. History As per a legend, Magadi was founded in 1139 by a Chola king, who, in the course of an expedition, heard that in early times it had been the residence ...

, is a professor and former director at the

National Institute of Technology Karnataka The National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), also known as NITK Surathkal and formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC), is a public technical university located in Surathkal, Mangalore, Mangaluru. Established in ...

(NITK) in

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

. His mother, Rajeshwari, is a professor at

Mangalore University Mangalore University commonly known as, MU is a public university in Konaje, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. In 2021, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) awarded Mangalore University 'B' grade. As on 2024, Prof. P L Dharma took ...

. His father was a fan of cricketer

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ born 10 July 1949), is a former captain of the Indian national cricket team who represented India national cricket team, India and Mumbai crick ...

and wanted to name his own son after Gavaskar's son but mistook Rohan Gavaskar's name for Rahul. KL Rahul and Athiya Shetty pose for paps after their wedding

KL Rahul and Athiya Shetty pose for paps after their wedding

Rahul grew up in

, completing his

High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

at NITK English Medium School and PUC at St. Aloysius College. He started cricket training at the age of 10, and, two years later, started playing matches for both Bangalore United Cricket Club and his club in Mangalore. At age 18, he moved to

to study at

Jain University Jain (Deemed-to-be University), is a deemed university based in Bengaluru. In August 2019, Jain (Deemed-to-be University) opened its off campus in Kochi, Kerala. History Jain (Deemed-to-be University) originates from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jai ...

and pursue his cricket career. On 23 January 2023, Rahul married his long-time girlfriend, actress Athiya Shetty daughter of actor

Sunil Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, and entrepreneur, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema, with appearances in Tamil cinema, Tamil films. Nicknamed as Anna, Shetty ha ...

, after dating for more than three years. Shetty gave birth to a girl, on 24 March 2025, and named her Evaarah.

Domestic career

Rahul made his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

debut for

in the 2010–11 season. In the same season, he represented his country at the 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, scoring 143 runs in the competition. He made his debut in the

in 2013, for

Royal Challengers Bangalore The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, formerly Royal Challengers Bangalore, also known as RCB, are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008 ...

. During the 2013–14 domestic season he scored 1,033 first-class runs, the second highest scorer that season. Playing for South Zone in the final of the 2014–15 Duleep Trophy against Central Zone, Rahul scored 185 off 233 balls in the first innings and 130 off 152 in the second. He was named the player of the match and selected to the Indian Test squad for the Australian tour followed. Returning home after the Test series, Rahul became Karnataka's first triple-centurion, scoring 337 against

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. He went on to score 188 in the

2014–15 Ranji Trophy The 2014–15 Ranji Trophy was the 81st edition of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It was contested by 27 teams divided into three groups of nine teams each. The top three teams from Groups A and B advanced ...

final against

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and finished the season with an average of 93.11 in the nine matches he played.

International career

Debut and early career (2014–2021)

Rahul made his Test debut in the 2014 Boxing Day Test at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

. He replaced

Rohit Sharma Rohit Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian Cricket, international cricketer and the Captain (cricket), captain of the India national cricket team, national team in One Day International, ODIs. He is also a former captain in Tests and T20 ...

and was presented with his Test cap by

MS Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batter and a wicket-keeper. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen and captains and one of the greatest O ...

. He managed to score only 3 and 1 on his debut. In the next test at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

where he opened the innings for the first time, and made his maiden international century, scoring 110 runs. He was named in the 15-man squad for the Indian tour of Bangladesh in June 2015 but withdrew due to

dengue Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after ...

. He returned to the side for the first Test of the Sri Lankan tour after Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, scoring his second Test century and winning the Man of the Match award. During the match, he kept wicket after Wriddhiman Saha was injured. In July 2016, Rahul was named in the squad for India tour of West Indies. In the second series test, Rahul scored 158 runs, his then-highest score in test cricket. In September 2016, he was named in the squad for the home series against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. After the first test, he was replaced by

Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir (born 14 October 1981) is the Head coach of the Indian cricket team. He is also a former international cricketer, former politician, and philanthropist. He played for India in all formats of the game between 2003 and 2016. He w ...

due to an injury. Rahul was selected in the squad against England in the 2016-17 Test series but was injured while training in the nets. He was ruled out of the third test, but he made his comeback to the team in the fourth test but failed to make an impact. In the fifth and final test of the series, Rahul went on to make his fourth test ton, scoring his career-best 199 runs. Rahul was named in the squad to tour Zimbabwe in 2016. He made his

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) debut against

at Harare Sports Club. Rahul scored an unbeaten 100*(115) on debut, thus becoming the first Indian cricketer to score a century on an ODI debut. He was named the man of the series. He made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) debut later in the same tour. Rahul got out on a golden duck on his T20I debut as India lost the first T20I against Zimbabwe. Rahul was named in T20I squad for the tour of West Indies in 2016, where he made his first T20I century of just 46 balls and ended up scoring an unbeaten 110 off just 51 balls. He became the first player to score a T20I century while batting at number four in a one-run defeat while in pursuit of 246, the highest T20I run chase at that time. In his 20th international innings, Rahul became the fastest batsman to have scored centuries in all three formats, surpassing the record of

Ahmed Shehzad Ahmed Shehzad (born 23 November 1991) is a former Pakistani international cricketer. He is an opening batsman who made his One Day International and Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan in April 2009 against Australia. He was a member o ...

, who took 76 innings. On 3 July 2018, Rahul scored his second T20 International ton against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He is also the first Indian batsman to be dismissed hit-wicket in T20Is. On 11 January 2019,

Hardik Pandya Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international Cricket, cricketer who plays for the India national cricket team, Indian cricket team. He is an all-rounder who is a right-handed middle order batsman and Fast bowling, f ...

and Rahul were suspended by the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

(BCCI) following misogynistic comments they made on the Indian talk show ''

Koffee with Karan ''Koffee with Karan'' is an Indian talk show hosted by filmmaker and television personality Karan Johar and produced by Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital content division of Johar's production company Dharma Productions. It debuted on 19 No ...

'' earlier in the month. They were both sent home ahead of the ODI series against Australia and the fixtures of India's tour to New Zealand. On 24 January 2019, after lifting the suspension on Pandya and Rahul, the BCCI announced that Rahul would re-join the squad for India A matches. In April 2019, he was named in India's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

. He played at number 4 in the first two games but got back to opening the innings alongside

when Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to injury. Overall, Rahul scored 361 runs with two fifties and one hundred in the tournament and finished as India's third-highest run scorer in the tournament after

and

Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian Cricket, international cricketer who plays One Day International, ODI cricket for the India national cricket team, national team and is a former Captain (cricket), captain in all formats. He is a ...

. Due to lack of form in the Test format, Rahul was dropped from the squad for the home Tests against South Africa. However, he remained in the limited-overs sides. In December 2019, in the first T20I match against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, Rahul scored his 1,000th run in T20I cricket. He scored 62 (40) in the first T20I against West Indies. He scored 91 (56) in the third T20I, for which he was the Man of the Match. He scored his 3rd ODI century in the 2nd ODI against West Indies. In the 2-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, Rahul scored 45 in the first match and 54 in the second T20I. In January 2020, Rahul made 80 (52) batting at number five in the second ODI against Australia and was rewarded as the man of the match. In India's tour of New Zealand in 2019–20, Rahul was declared man of the series in the five-match T20I series for scoring 224 runs at an average of 56. He was also the stand-in captain in the 5th T20I after

suffered a hamstring injury during the 1st innings. In the ODI series against New Zealand, he scored 88* (64) in the first ODI and scored his fourth ton in ODIs, 112 (113) in the third ODI. In October 2020, Rahul was named as

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

's vice captain for the ODI and T20I series against Australia. Rahul had a moderate ODI and T20I series against Australia. He made 77 against Australia in the second ODI and 51 in the first T20I. India lost the ODI series 2–1 but won the T20I series by the same margin. Rahul was included in the test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but was not picked in the playing XI for the first two Tests. He injured himself during practice and was ruled out of the remaining part of the tour. As a result, he also missed the home Test series against England in February 2021. He returned to the national side for the T20I and ODI series against England. There was a dip in his form in the T20I series. He returned to form in the ODI series scoring a match-winning 62* and was involved in a 100-run partnership with debutant Krunal Pandya who scored a fifty. He continued his form by scoring 108 runs in the second ODI and was involved in another 100-run partnership with Rishabh Pant. Rahul was named to India's test squad for their tour of England in 2021. As Shubman Gill and

Mayank Agarwal Mayank Anurag Agarwal (; born 16 February 1991)
ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2012-02-01. is an Indian < ...

were injured, Rahul opened alongside

. In the first test at Trent Bridge, Rahul scored 84 and 26. He scored 129 (250) at Lords and was awarded the man of the match in the second Test. Rahul displayed excellent technical skills for batting in England, including playing the ball late and leaving the ball well. Rahul scored 315 runs in eight innings of four matches played and was the second-highest run scorer for India in the tour behind Rohit Sharma.

Vice-captaincy (2021–22)

In September 2021, Rahul was named to India's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

. He was the highest run scorer for India in the tournament, scoring 194 runs including three consecutive fifties. He also scored the tournament's joint fastest fifty in just 18 balls against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. After Virat Kohli stepped down as T20I captain, Rahul was appointed the vice-captain of the team in T20Is as former vice-captain Rohit Sharma was appointed the new captain of T20I format. Later, Rahul was appointed ODI vice-captain as well due to the change of captaincy. In December 2021, Rahul was named as India's Test vice-captain for the away series against South Africa after India's regular vice-captain

was ruled out of the series. Rahul was also named as the ODI captain for the One Day series of the same tour as India's regular ODI captain

was ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. In the first test match against South Africa in December 2021, he scored 123 in India's first innings and 23 in India's second innings. For this performance, he was awarded the Man of the Match award. In the second test against South Africa in January 2022, Rahul captained India for the first time in Test cricket and became the 34th Test captain of India. He scored a half-century on his captaincy debut. Despite his best efforts, Rahul couldn't lead the team to victory, and India lost the second Test by seven wickets. In the first ODI against South Africa, he made his debut in ODI captaincy and became the 26th ODI captain of India. However, India lost the series 3–0 to South Africa. KL Rahul 2022

In February 2022, during the second ODI of India against the West Indies, Rahul scored 49 (48) and completed 6000 runs in international cricket across all formats. In the same ODI, Rahul sustained an upper left hamstring strain and was ruled out of the next ODI as well as the upcoming T20Is series against the West Indies. Rahul was named captain for the South African tour of India in June, but was later ruled out of the series due to a groin injury. After a successful sports hernia surgery, Rahul came back to the team and was named captain for the India Tour of Zimbabwe in August. Rahul was the stand-in captain for the team during the last match played by team India in the

2022 Asia Cup The 2022 Asia Cup (also known as DP World Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, with the matches played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) during August and September 2022 in the United Arab Em ...

against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Due to poor form, in February 2023 he was removed from the Test vice-captaincy, with his spot in the team questioned. Rahul made his return to cricket in Asia Cup 2023 against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Rahul scored an unbeaten century on his return, scoring 111 off 106 balls. Following a successful Asia Cup, Rahul was named in the squad for

2023 Cricket World Cup The 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup was the 13th edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted from 5 October to 19 ...

. Ahead of the World Cup, Rahul was named as the captain for first two ODIs for the series against

. Rahul started his World Cup 2023 campaign scoring an unbeaten 97 against

in a tricky chase after India lost 3 wickets at the score of 2. In the final match of the group stage of the World Cup, against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Rahul recorded the fastest century by an Indian batter in a World Cup, when he reached the milestone in 62 deliveries. He coincidentally broke the record held by

who hit a century earlier of 63 deliveries in the tournament during India's match against Afghanistan. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against Australia, Rahul top scored in India's first innings with 66 runs off 107 balls as they struggled to 240 and were comfortably defeated by 6-wickets. KL Rahul's slow innings in the finals was heavily criticised by experts and fans. On 30 November, Rahul was announced as the captain for the 3 match ODI series against South Africa after the regular ODI captain

had taken a break following an intense 2023 Cricket World Cup schedule. Rahul subsequently, won the series 2-1 making him the second captain after

to win an ODI series in South Africa. In December 2023, during the first test match of the series between India and South Africa, Rahul scored his 8th test match century helping India to post a challenging first innings score of 245 during challenging batting conditions. He top scored that innings with 101 runs with the second highest score only being 38 runs. Despite his efforts, India ended up losing the match by an innings and 32 runs. Rahul scored 86 and 22 in defeat in the first test of England's 2023–24 tour India. However, he missed the rest of the series through injury. Rahul was axed from the 2024 T20 World Cup squad. Rahul made his comeback to the ODI team post-injury against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

where he scored 31 and 0 in the first two ODIs and was dropped from the final ODI of the series, India ended up losing the series 2-0, their first bilateral loss against Sri Lanka since 1997. Rahul was named in the squad for the 2-match Test series against Bangladesh in September 2024. Rahul scored a quick-fire 68 off just 62 deliveries in the rain-affected second test to help India secure a victory. Rahul was named in the Test squad against New Zealand where he failed to scored in the first test, making scores of 0 and 12 and was dropped from the starting 11 for the remaining series. Following a failed series against New Zealand he was named in the India A squad and main squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Rahul started the series as an opener and managed to score two half centuries later he was sent to one-down in the last two matches. He ended the series as the third highest scorer for India, scoring 276 runs at an average of 30.66. Rahul was selected in the ODI squad for the home series against England and Champions Trophy 2025.

Indian Premier League

Debut and early seasons (2013–2017)

Rahul made his

(IPL) debut for

(RCB) during the 2013 season. Ahead of the

2014 IPL The 2014 Indian Premier League season (abbreviated as IPL 7 or Pepsi IPL 2014) was the seventh season of the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. ...

, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 1 crore. Rahul returned to RCB ahead of the 2016 season, where he finished the season as the 11th-highest run-scorer and RCB's third, with 397 runs from 14 matches. For his performances in the 2016 IPL season, he was named as wicketkeeper in the

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

and

Cricbuzz Cricbuzz is a cricket news website owned by Times Internet. It features news, articles and live coverage of cricket matches including videos, text commentary, player stats and team rankings. Their website also offers a mobile apps, mobile app. ...

IPL XI. He missed the 2017 season due to a shoulder injury.

Stint with Punjab Kings (2018–2021)

In the 2018 IPL auction, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab for INR 11 crore, the joint-third highest price. In the team's first match of the season, he scored the fastest 50 in IPL history, taking 14 balls to reach the milestone and breaking the record of

Sunil Narine Sunil Philip Narine (born 26 May 1988) is a Trinidadian cricket player who played internationally for the West Indies. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in December 2011 and Test match debut in June 2012. Primarily an off-spin bow ...

. In total, he scored 659 runs in the season at a strike rate of 158.41 and an average of 54.91. He finished the season as third highest run scorer, and he was named in the ''Cricinfo'' and ''Cricbuzz'' IPL XI. KXIP retained Rahul for the 2019 season, where he was named as vice-captain. He scored his maiden IPL century, scoring 100

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

off 64 balls against

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

. He scored 593 runs in the season with average of 53.90 and strike rate of 135.38. On 19 December 2019, Rahul was announced as captain of the for the 2020 season, after former captain

Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin (; ) (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian cricketer. He is a right-arm off spin bowler and a lower order batter. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific spinners of all time, he represented the Indian cricket team an ...

was traded to

. In the match against RCB on 24 September 2020, he scored an unbeaten 132*, then the most runs scored by an Indian batsman in an IPL match. He won the Orange Cap for scoring most runs in the season (670). He was also declared the Dream11 Gamechanger of the Season. He was retained as the captain ahead of the 2021 season, and scored 626 runs, finishing as the team's highest scorer in the season.

Lucknow Super Giants (2022–2024)

Prior to the 2022 season, Rahul was drafted by

Lucknow Super Giants The Lucknow Super Giants, also known as LSG, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group. Ekana Cricket ...

as their captain for INR 17 crore, making him the joint highest paid cricketer in the IPL alongside

. On 16 April 2022, Rahul scored his first century for Lucknow (103* off 60) against MI. He followed this up with another unbeaten century (103* off 62) against the same opponent eight days later. Rahul led his team to play-offs in the debut season for LSG but ended up losing to RCB in the eliminator. Rahul was the highest scorer for his team, scoring 616 runs with an average of 51.33 scoring 2 centuries in the season. Rahul was retained as the captain for Lucknow Super Giants for 2023 season, but was ruled out of the tournament mid way after sustaining an injury while fielding in a match against RCB. In the 2024 season Rahul scored 520 runs at a strike rate of 136.13 scoring 4 half-centuries but could not captain his time to the play-offs. Rahul was publicly criticised by the owner of

after a humiliating loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in match no. 57 of the season where SRH defeated LSG by 10 wickets chasing the target of 166 runs in just 9.4 overs. Rahul was released by the Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the 2025 IPL Mega Auction. In the 2025 IPL Mega Auction, He was bought by

for 14 crores.

International centuries

As of January 2024 Rahul has scored 17 international centuries - 8 in

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

, 7 in One-Day Internationals and 2 in T20Is. Rahul is the only Indian player to score a century on his ODI debut. He is also the first batsman to score a century in T20Is while playing at 4th or lower batting position.

List of international centuries by KL Rahul

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahul, KL 1992 births Living people India Test cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Indian sportsmen Karnataka cricketers Cricketers from Mangalore Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricketers South Zone cricketers Cricketers who made a century on One Day International debut Punjab Kings cricketers Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Wicket-keepers Lucknow Super Giants cricketers India Test cricket captains Indian cricket captains