‘Who is KL Rahul?’ A question that is finally getting answered, and Indian cricket is better for it

This IPL, the question – ‘Who is KL Rahul? – is getting answered. He is getting defined. At the pre-season big auction, he flew under the radar. He moved from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to Delhi Capitals (DC) with a pay-cut and demotion. Season 18 isn’t likely to be his best-ever but could be the year he graduated – found his niche, and also peace. Rahul in 2025 has been scoring runs, winning matches, changing opinions and also shaking a monkey off his back.

The last bit happened the other day when he settled a few old IPL scores in a game against his old franchise. Many see this as the ‘the real-Rahul-standing-up’ moment. After playing a winning hand, he gave this season’s coldest handshake to his one-time boss – LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka.

They have a history. Last season, TV cameras had captured Goenka’s mostly one-sided animated conversation with Rahul after one of LSG’s many defeats. Social media had called it a dressing down.

Round II, as expected, again turned out to be an internet event. This time, Rahul’s expressionless formal greeting after the game was seen as a wronged captain’s royal snub to the employer who wasn’t quite kind to him. The fans exhausted every gleeful emoji available to applaud Rahul’s ‘coolness’.

Rahul has always had his tattoos, but needle-work doesn’t always guarantee street cred. He had that signature fingers-in-ears ‘shut-out-the-noise’ celebration, but it somewhat highlighted his vulnerability, not coolness. But Rahul, like that day when meeting Goenka, has always remained dignified.

Actually, that’s how Bengaluru boys typically react. They aren’t into over-the-top celebrations, their messaging is nuanced. Dravid, after his epic Eden Gardens knock in 2001, showed his bat to the press box as the media had dared to write the team off before the Test. This other time, as Rajasthan Royals coach, he threw his cap on the ground in disgust after his players failed to seal an easy win.

This very season, Rahul too had claimed ownership of his backyard, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, by stamping the turf with his bat after beating Royal Challengers Bengaluru. RCB were expected to break the bank to get Rahul at the auction, but turned their backs on the home boy, eventually deciding to hand over the captaincy to the retained Rajat Patidar from Indore. Dravid or KL aren’t known for thundering press conferences to show their displeasure, they drop hints.

Last season, TV cameras had captured Goenka’s mostly one-sided animated conversation with Rahul. Round II (R), as expected, again turned out to be an internet event. (Screengrab/BCCI)

Calm and collected

But for that foot-in-mouth hour on the infamous talk show, Rahul has always measured his words. He is a man of few words and fewer expressions. Victory and defeat, he has treated the two imposters equally. His first big international outing was during the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in 2010. India played most of their games at a university campus close to Christchurch. With a face covered with adolescent zits, Rahul looked like a schoolkid who had sneaked into a college complex. The same was true for his opening partner – his Karnataka mate Mayank Agarwal. Both were young, Mayank had braces fortifying his front teeth.

In one of the earlier matches, the two had a grand partnership. Mayank was the more aggressive of the two, his attack was aerial. Rahul, meanwhile, had elegant groundstrokes. On the dew-covered sparkling turf in New Zealand, his drives would draw lines that connected the crease to the boundary rope.

That day, both agreed to a joint interview. Mayank would say that he loved Virender Sehwag. Rahul, the quieter of the two, mentioned Dravid. “Yes, people have told me I bat like Dravid. I practised with him. I called him before leaving for New Zealand and he gave me a few tips,” he had said.

After the chat, the two readily agreed to be photographed. Mayank puts his arm around Rahul. “Dostana pose?” he joked. He came up with that half-bent leg pose like couples do and leaned on Rahul. For reference, Dostana is a Bollywood comedy about two young men pretending to be gay. The pals giggled. Rahul played along but looked embarrassed, something that was surprisingly missing when he and Hardik Pandya broke the ‘what happens in dressing home, stays there’ bro code on TV.

For that infamous 2019 TV show, both Rahul and Hardik got suspended. That year, Rahul also got dropped from the Indian team. That period, he confided to a friend, was the “most useless and negative of his life”. The same set of trusted mates, most of them cricketers, would help him train, spot his mistakes and help him return to the Indian team. The nightmare would be over. Rahul would hit Test centuries in England and South Africa.

Like the legend he was constantly compared to, Rahul had the skills to succeed overseas but he was more Wallop than Wall. Rahul’s white-ball game, and the potential in him to be a youth icon, was the kind that would make franchises weak in their knees. They would fall over each other to sign him up. In their haste to put him on billboards, they even made him the captain. That proved to be a folly.

POV: It’s his home ground 😎🏡#TATAIPL | #RCBvDC | @klrahul | @DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/kV7utADWjU

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 10, 2025

Leader without the tag
Never to lead even a junior side, Rahul was given the reins to run a franchise team. He had to handle his players on the field and owners off it. Like Dravid, at times, it was too much for him. The highly-skilled batsman, who didn’t allow T20 to mess with his batting technique, couldn’t prevent IPL pressure from impacting his form. There were times when he would succeed as a batsman, but couldn’t inspire his team to give results. This stopped him from graduating to the elite club of super-star cricketers.

The constant changing of his batting spot when playing for India has also resulted in him not settling into a role. In Tests, he has opened the innings and also batted at 3, 4 and 6. It’s somewhat the same in T20Is. But the ODIs musical chairs are worse – Rahul has batted in all spots from 1 to 7. He has also been India’s perpetual spare wheel – the stand-in wicket-keeper, opener and captain. That didn’t allow a permanent standing in the team or the dressing room.

But with time, Rahul learnt to live with the ad-hocism he was subjected to. During the last Test series in Australia, he brilliantly opened the innings in Rohit Sharma’s absence but got dropped to No.3 when the designated captain returned. In the ICC Champions Trophy, he returned to keep wickets in ODIs, with the team management opting for him over Rishabh Pant. But he would be sent to bat after all-rounder Axar Patel at No.6. In both campaigns, he repeatedly played India’s Man Friday.

This IPL, he is playing under Axar, his junior by many years. But such demotions haven’t mattered to him, or perhaps he has got used to them. Rahul remains the team’s rock and someone the juniors look up to. When opening with Yashasvi Jaiswal during BGT, he played the perfect senior, reining in the aggressive youngster. During the Champions Trophy and at DC, he is the voice that wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav listens to.

He is the ultimate backroom boy, the Mr Reliable and the perpetual captaincy option. After years, he is again Team India’s Dravid. He is popular in the team and after that ‘coldest handshake’, has finally connected with the masses. The fans always liked him, but now they might even love him. Who in the world doesn’t like a noisy boss getting a subtle snub?