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KL Rahul, who is currently leading the Lucknow Super Giants franchise in the IPL 2024, expressed his desire to play and finish his career at Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Speaking on Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel, Rahul said that being a Karnataka player, it would have been ideal for him to play for RCB.
Former Punjab Kings skipper commenced his IPL career with his home state franchise only in 2013 before parting ways to join Sunrisers Hyderabad for 2014-15. However, he returned to the Bengaluru franchise in 2016 when they made it to the finals riding on Virat Kohli’s stellar season. Before that, he went on to lead Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in the World’s toughest league.
Speaking for his love for Chinnaswamy Stadium, Rahul said, “You can never change the fact that I’m a Karnataka player, I’m from Bengaluru. KCA is my home, Chinnaswamy Stadium is my home first and then IPL is happening. Everyone wants to play for their home state or their home city and since I am from Bengaluru, playing for Bengaluru would have been ideal.”
However, stressing the beauty of IPL, the LSG skipper added that that’s not how these leagues work. He also emphasized Virat Kohli playing for Bengaluru despite hailing from Delhi and Dhoni representing Chennai despite coming from Ranchi. “Like I said, when I started thinking or dreaming of IPL and T20 cricket, by then this was already a set that the players would move around.”
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“Like, even from the first season, Virat was from Delhi and Mahi bhai is from Jharkhand, Ranchi, he plays for CSK. So that had already happened. So growing up, we felt that it was a huge change,” Rahul added.
KL Rahul will next gear up to clash with the five-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings on April 19, at Ekana Cricket Stadium. The Lucknow-based franchise has reached the playoffs stage in both the seasons they have played.