KL RAHUL
The most natural option for KXIP to give captaincy for the upcoming season is their wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul. Rahul has been on fire with the bat, scoring 659 and 593 runs in the last two seasons for the franchise and overall has 1977 runs in 67 matches with one century and 16 fifties at a strike rate of 138.15.
Rahul also holds the record of the fastest half-century in the franchise in just 14 balls. He has been in good form for the Men in Blue as well with 1036 runs in 32 T20Is and 704 runs in 23 ODIs with 2 centuries each in both formats.
His strike rate in T20Is is 145.91 and is coming off a brilliant Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament and the franchise looks at him as their most reliable batsman and hence retained him for the IPL 2020. However, he has achieved such heights for KXIP just being their opener-keeper and it remains to be seen whether the additional responsibility of captaincy affects his form.
But it can be said that KXIP has groomed him as their next captain and unless they go for any other player in the auction just for the captaincy purpose, Rahul may be their pick.
