Ace batter KL Rahul has been part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise and recalled his interaction with Virat Kohli when he joined the team back in IPL 2013.
Rahul played his first IPL match for RCB against former champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2013. The then 20-year-old KL Rahul had fulfilled his dream by signing a contract with the RCB team.
He recounted his interaction with Virat Kohli, who had been named captain of the RCB in the 2013 IPL, revealing the batter’s words to him while signing the contract.
"Virat was there (ITC Gardenia), coach Ray Jennings and other support staff were also there and Virat only said, 'Would you want to sign this contract and play for RCB?' I was like, 'Are you kidding? It was always my dream.' And then he said 'I'm just kidding. It's not an option, just sign this contract.' I signed and Virat said 'It's gonna be a crazy ride. You're going to enjoy a lot in the next couple of months,'" Rahul said on R Ashwin’s YouTube Channel.
KL Rahul had joined RCB in 2013 before signing with Sunrisers Hyderabad the next season.
"The things that I learned (at RCB) in those two months, I mean the amount of time it would have taken me to be the player by playing just Ranji Trophy would have probably taken it 7-8 seasons. Those two months in the IPL, I gained so much knowledge and experience and everything was fast-forwarded," Rahul added.
However, Rahul returned for another stint with RCB in IPL 2016 and this time made 397 runs in 14 appearances. He missed the IPL 2017 due to a shoulder injury and was then picked by Punjab Kings in the IPL 2018 auction for INR 11 Crores.
The IPL 2020 Orange Cap winner was later roped in as the captain of Lucknow Super Giants for the 2022 season.
In the same interaction with Ashwin, Rahul revealed that he would have loved to finish his IPL career at RCB.
"I would have also loved to play for Bangalore. I had started there, and I would have liked to finish there and that was there in my head. But the beauty of IPL is that you get to go into different teams with different players," Rahul concluded.
(Hindustan Times inputs)
