Virat Kohli, who left the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) after the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), said that batsman KL Rahul and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal have undergone impressive changes.
Rahul started his IPL journey with RCB in the year 2013, while Chahal was associated with the RBC franchise from 2014 to 2021.
Former India captain Virat Kohli had a special conversation on RCB Podcast. Meanwhile, he said, the only two people who come to mind for me are KL (Rahul) and Yuji (Yuzvendra Chahal). KL Rahul was in RCB in the year 2013 along with Karun and Mayank. KL Rahul was never someone who was seen as a T20 specialist.
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He was part of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the year 2015. He was not getting any playing time and now I have seen him play for India. Kohli then went on to elaborate on his initial equation with Rahul at RCB.
He further said I had not seen KL much after leaving RCB and I had heard that he is doing well in first-class cricket. He was very young when he came to RCB and I was already playing for India and we were playing regularly for RCB.
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So, we never really connected in a very elaborate way. We didn’t spend that much time with each other. I saw him play in Australia in 2014, when he made his Test debut and I was like, Wow! He has worked seriously on his game. He is back as a better player and I was very impressed with his body language, his confidence, his demeanour.
Rahul was playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL at that time. In 2014, he played 11 matches, scoring 166 runs at an average of 20.75 and a strike rate of 101.21. In 2015, the right-handed batsman scored 142 runs in nine matches at an average of 28.40 and a strike rate of 112.69. Before the 2016 season, Rahul signed off-spin all-rounder Parvez Rasool with RCB. Kohli explained the reason behind RCB signing Rahul before the start of the 2016 IPL.
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IPL 2016 season proved to be a game-changer for T20 batsman Rahul. Rahul scored 397 runs in 14 matches at an average of 44.11, including four half-centuries at a strike rate of 146.49. Although he missed IPL 2017 due to a shoulder injury that required surgery and later moved to Punjab Kings, followed by Lucknow Super Giants, the 2016 season with RCB saw a T20I for Rahul. The journey to becoming a stylish batsman had started.
Kohli further said how it was good for Chahal to come to RCB like Rahul. He was bought by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL mega auction during his time with RCB, Chahal made his limited-overs debut for India and did well in the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
He said, even with Chahal he was not getting many opportunities earlier in IPL and when he came to Bangalore and was a player who always wanted to bowl, the way he did in Chinnaswamy was unbelievable. His life changed from there. Kohli said these are two stories that I can think of. Because they are in front of me. I think IPL has proved to be a big milestone in his career.