KL Rahul is not carrying ‘any baggage from the past’ in IPL 2025: Cheteshwar Pujara

After KL Rahul hit his third half century of IPL 2025, making an unbeaten 42-ball 57 against his previous side Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow on Tuesday, former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara feels that the new lease of life that his new franchise has given him has made the Delhi Capitals (DC) batter look like an entirely different player this season.
Rahul continued his rich vein of form anchoring DC’s comfortable run chase on Tuesday, making him his franchise’s highest run scorer this year and one of the top performing Indian batters of the IPL season so far.
Pujara credits the top performances to leaving LSG last year after the fallout with the team management there.
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“Just move on, don’t carry any baggage from the past,” Pujara told ESPNCricinfo. “And that’s a good thing. Look, KL is a mature player. Last couple of years, he’s been batting well across formats. He doesn’t want to think about the past and wants to enjoy his batting and be in his zone, rather than think about what went wrong when he was playing for the LSG team.”
“It’s good to move on, which will also help him play well for DC and even for the Indian team. Because, lately, he is someone the India team also relies on, the way he’s batting. Even as a person, he looks a lot more mature now, he understands his game very well. We have seen a different KL Rahul this season,” Pujara added.
Former England batter Nick Knight added that after the pressure of captaincy has been relieved from his shoulders, Rahul has been able to focus on his batting.
“Captaincy can do funny things to you – sometimes you thrive on it, sometimes it’s a burden,” Knight was quoted as saying ESPNCricinfo. “Whether that’s had any impact, of not being captain now, just being free and being able to play the match situation.”