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How KL Rahul turned around his T20 game, having fun

On the eve of Delhi Capitals match against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Kuldeep Yadav went about mesmerising his teammates for a while until KL Rahul padded up and walked into the nets. For the next 20-odd minutes, all the eyes turned into the 33-year-old batsman, who used his feet to come down and loft the wily spinner, brought out the slog-sweeps, reverse-sweeps and made Kuldeep look no different to the rest.
As Rahul walked back, one could hear him say “that was fun”. It is the theme that played out in Dubai during the Champions Trophy that was held just weeks before the IPL began, where in almost every India net session, Rahul captivated with his effortless hitting. On those slow, challenging decks, Rahul’s strike rate stood at 97.90.
Thankfully for India, in the big picture scheme of things, Rahul is having fun not just at the nets but also in the matches. This IPL for Delhi Capitals, Rahul is showing how far he has developed as a middle-order batsman. Not so long ago, Rahul’s comments “strike-rates are overrated” had become a meme material. In a T20 era where strike-rates took precedence over other variables, it appeared Rahul was stuck in a different era. Perhaps still sticking to the game-plan that India had embraced till they were humbled in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
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That semi-final outing against England remains Rahul’s last T20 appearance for India. When India decided to move on, it was interesting that they decided to do so without him, for it also happened to be the period where the then think-tank including Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid had earmarked Rahul as a finisher in 50-over format. A batsman, who India thought wasn’t capable of giving explosive starts at the top with fielding restrictions in place, was considered good enough to bat at No 5 and provide the impetus in the death overs. Rahul was a transformed batsman since then, now demoted to No 6, an even more challenging role in ODIs where he would get to face minimum deliveries most often and still make the most of it.
KL Rahul of Delhi Capitals shaking hands with Sanjiv Goenka, the owner of Lucknow Super Giants after an IPL 2025 game. (PHOTO: Sportzpics for IPL)
But in T20s, when he went back to opening with Lucknow Super Giants, time and again the criticism levelled against Rahul was he got into a shell. In three seasons with the franchise, he went at a strike-rate: 135.38, 113.22 and 136.13. While it has made many feel he was a liability in T20s, more so after India not even looking at him in the shorter format, his stocks haven’t gone down. During the last IPL auctions as he entered the auction pool, there was fierce bidding between Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai before Delhi bought him for Rs 14 crore.
“I think somewhere along the way I lost that fun of hitting boundaries and hitting sixes. I wanted to take the game deep, deep, deep and that somehow stuck in my head,” Rahul told Kevin Pietersen on IPL website. “But now I have realised I need to go back… cricket’s changed, and T20 cricket, especially, is only about hitting boundaries. The team that hits more boundaries and sixes ends up winning the game,” he added.
Now, with his fifth different franchise in Delhi Capitals, Rahul seems to be finding the game that went missing. He may no longer be the opener, instead transforming himself into a versatile batsman who could be slotted anywhere and still get the job done with minimal fuss. It is also worth recounting, this is his first IPL since 2019, where he isn’t leading the team. And this is the first season since 2018 – when he was striking at 158.41 – that Rahul’s strike-rate has crossed the 150 mark as he has been going at 153.81 this season, his first as a middle-order batsman. Story continues below this ad
An increase in the strike-rate hasn’t happened because of blind slogging. If anything, he is doing it in the most authoritative style, taking the attack to the opposition. If his take down of Noor Ahmad swung the game in Delhi’s favour in Chennai, at his home ground M Chinnaswamy Stadium, he was at his punishing best against Josh Hazlewood. On Tuesday, playing his former franchise Lucknow, he killed the chase in the middle-overs going after Ravi Bishnoi with a trademark slog-sweeps. Except for the strike-rate, it is hard to find any tweaks he has made to his compact technique. “I am not thinking too much about the game, not thinking about taking it deep or any of that stuff. Just see the ball and try to be aggressive and put the pressure on the bowler and the opposition and just enjoy hitting boundaries,” Rahul said.
Watching Rahul these days, it is hard to disagree. He is having fun in the middle. And watching him bat has been fun too.

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