KL Rahul's IPL Journey: Batting, Captaincy Challenges,Stats and Delhi Capitals Leadership in IPL 2025
K L Rahul, a well-established name in Indian Cricket and the Indian Premier League is the combination of a consistent and explosive batter who has yet to deliver as a captain. This article will discuss K L Rahul’s career as a batter and as a captain.
K L Rahul, who started his IPL career with RCB in 2013, has played for four IPL teams till now:
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru (2013,2016)
- Sunrisers Hyderabad (2014,2015)
- Punjab Kings (2018,2021)
- Lucknow Supergiants (2022,2024)
Rahul will play for the Delhi Capitals this year, the team bought him for 14 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
The reason why K L Rahul was released before the IPL mega auction by Lucknow Supergiants is still not confirmed, but as per the reports, there was a fallout between K L Rahul and LSG’s owner. In the IPL 2024, after a devastating defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka was seen furious on the ground. In that match, which was crucial for Lucknow’s chances for the playoffs, opponent SRH chased down Lucknow's target of 166 in just 9.4 overs.
The tussle between the owners and K L Rahul went public when Goenka publicly criticised K L Rahul's leadership approach and explicitly said he went to retain the players who put the team first before their personal goals. In response to Goenka’s criticism, K L Rahul said, “he wanted to start fresh and will play where he could find some freedom with a lighter team atmosphere”.
KL Rahul IPL Batting Stats
| Category | Stats |
|---|---|
| Matches | 132 |
| Innings | 123 |
| Runs | 4683 |
| Highest Score | 132* |
| Average | 45.99 |
| Strike Rate | 134.60 |
| Half-centuries | 37 |
| Centuries | 4 |
| Fours | 400 |
| Sixes | 187 |
Season-wise Batting Performance
| Year | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | Highest Score | Fifties | Hundreds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 3 | 36 | 12.00 | 101.42 | 31 | - | - |
| 2014 | 14 | 340 | 25.71 | 126.90 | 44 | 2 | - |
| 2015 | 14 | 393 | 27.00 | 142.77 | 50 | 2 | - |
| 2016 | 10 | 397 | 44.11 | 146.08 | 75 | 3 | - |
| 2018 | 14 | 659 | 54.91 | 158.41 | *95 | 6 | - |
| 2019 | 14 | 593 | 53.90 | 135.38 | *100 | 5 | - |
| 2020 | 14 | 670 | 55.83 | 129.34 | 132* | 5 | 1 |
| 2021 | 13 | 626 | 62.60 | 138.67 | 91 | 6 | 1 |
| 2022 | 15 | 616 | 51.33 | 135.38 | 103 (x2)* | 6 | 2 |
| 2023 | 9 | 274 | 34.25 | 136.13 | 74 | 2 | - |
| 2024 | 14 | 520 | 37.14 | 136.13 | 82 | 4 | - |
KL Rahul IPL Captaincy Stats
In the 64 matches, Kl Rahul was captain; the team won 32 while losing 32 games
| Format | Matches as Captain (PBKS & LSG) | Wins | Losses | No Result (NR) | Win Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPL | 64 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 50.00% |
KL Rahul's IPL Salary History
| Year | Team | Salary (INR) |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | ₹10 Lakh |
| 2014 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | ₹1 Crore |
| 2015 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | ₹1 Crore |
| 2016 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | ₹1 Crore |
| 2017 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | ₹1 Crore |
| 2018 | Kings XI Punjab | ₹11 Crore |
| 2019 | Kings XI Punjab | ₹11 Crore |
| 2020 | Kings XI Punjab | ₹11 Crore |
| 2021 | Kings XI Punjab | ₹11 Crore |
| 2022 | Lucknow Super Giants | ₹17 Crore |
| 2023 | Lucknow Super Giants | ₹17 Crore |
| 2025 | Delhi Capitals | ₹14 Crore |
DC IPL 2025 Squad
| Category | Players |
|---|---|
| Batters | KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Karun Nair, Ashutosh Sharma, Sameer Rizvi |
| Wicketkeepers | Abhishek Porel |
| Fast-bowling All-rounders | Manvanth Kumar, Madhav Tiwari |
| Bowlers | Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam |
| Spinners | Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma |