Last Updated on 8 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
In a video that has resurfaced on social media, KL Rahul opened up on the difficulties of being a captain in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Speaking on the Humans of Bombay show, Rahul, believed to be referencing his time at Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), revealed that an IPL season would leave him more drained than playing 10 months of international cricket.
The former LSG captain had a high-profile, public confrontation with owner Sanjiv Goenka during the 2024 season. Rahul has since found a new lease of life at the Delhi Capitals, hitting 593 runs at an average of 45.61 and strike rate of 174.41 in IPL 2026.
KL Rahul on his time at LSG: “More mentally and physically drained than playing 10 months of international cricket”
“What I found hard as a captain in the IPL was the number of meetings that you needed to do, number of reviews that you needed to do, number of things that you needed to explain at the ownership level. But that is really like energy training, you know, you do all of that,” Rahul said.
“So I realised at the end of IPL, I’m more mentally and physically drained than playing 10 months of international cricket.”
Rahul then shed detail on the type of questions he would receive. He said it was the job of the coaches to answer them, but he was also answerable to the owners.
“So there’s so many things, I’m just saying, coaches, captain, you’re just constantly being asked a lot of questions and it almost after a point feels like you’re being questioned as to why did you make this change, why did Jatin play in the 11, why is that the opposition got 200 and we couldn’t even get 120?
“Why are their bowlers getting more spin? I mean, these are questions that we never get asked through the year, right? Because the coaches who are there know what’s going on. You’re only answerable to the coach and the selectors who’ve all played cricket and understand that the nuances of cricket and sport, no matter what you do and how many boxes you tick, there’s nothing in sport that guarantees victory.
“So that’s the hard part to explain to people who come from a non-sporting background,” Rahul said.
Rishabh Pant also struggled as LSG captain and has since been traded to Delhi Capitals (DC) where he will link up with Rahul. In addition, Pant found the going tough with the bat, so it will be interesting to see what impact the move to DC has on his IPL career.
