“KL Rahul's personality is better off not captaining,” Wasim Jaffer makes big claim

Jaffer suggested that freeing Rahul from leadership duties allows his natural game to flourish.

Former India opener Wasim Jaffer believes that KL Rahul performs at his peak when he can focus entirely on his batting without the added pressure of captaincy.

Speaking on The Great Indian Cricket Show on Doordarshan, Jaffer suggested that freeing Rahul from leadership duties allows his natural game to flourish.

While Rahul is one of the veteran members of the Indian team, he is not in the race to be the captain in any format. In IPL too, he played for Delhi Capitals as senior batter for the last two seasons after leaving Lucknow Super Giants, where he was the skipper.

"KL Rahul's personality is better off not captaining because if you leave him to play, I think he'll always give you 500-600 runs. He's a bankable player. He will win 2-3 games on his own, which he does in every season," Jaffer, who has worked with Rahul at Punjab Kings, said.

"So I just feel that with the kind of personality he has, captaincy just puts a bit of added pressure on him," he added.

KL Rahul is currently in Sri Lanka with the Indian squad for a two-match Test series, slated to get underway on August 15 in Galle.

In the three-day warm-up fixture against SLC XI, Rahul came in as an opener in the first innings and scored 40 off 67 balls. He did not bat in the second essay.

Notably, India registered a six-wicket victory in the practice match at NCC Ground in Colombo, giving players valuable match time ahead of the main assignment.

(With ANI Inputs)