Stressing on the importance of playing with “freedom” in a “good environment”, KL Rahul said he was looking forward to starting afresh as he enters the mega Indian Premier League auction after being released by the Lucknow Super Giants, following their forgettable seventh-place finish in IPL 2024.

Rahul, who led LSG into the playoffs in their first two seasons, in 2022 and 2023, but failed to continue the momentum in the last season, even though he finished as their highest run-getter with 520 runs at a strike rate of 136.12.

Speculations around Rahul’s future at the franchise rose ever since visuals surfaced of an animated chat between him and team owner Sanjeev Goenka following LSG’s defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad towards the end of the league phase of IPL 2024.

Rahul acknowledged the pressure of putting consistent performances throughout the season, but maintained that it was important to have a calm dressing room irrespective of the team’s eventual outcome, and thus he was looking forward to being a part of a more balanced setup.

“I just felt like I wanted to start fresh, I wanted to explore my options and I wanted to go and play where I could find some freedom and the team atmosphere would be something much more balanced,” Rahul said.

“The pressure is already there in the IPL, it’s so high. You see teams like Gujarat [Titans] and CSK [Chennai Super Kings] and all of these teams, and you see when they win or lose, they seem really balanced and the dressing room is really calm. That’s something that’s very important for me as a player. I feel like if that happens, it gives all the players the best chance to perform.

“We tried that at LSG with Andy Flower [head coach] and GG [Gautam Gambhir, mentor] first and then last year with [new head coach, Justin] Langer, we tried to create that in the change room. I think it was a brilliant atmosphere in the change room. I think sometimes you just need to move away and find something good for yourself,” the elegant right-hander told Star Sports.

Asked to look back on IPL 2024, Rahul suggested that external pressure may have contributed to their drop in results. After starting with a loss to Rajasthan Royals, they won three matches on the bounce before stuttering mid-season.

“There’s always ups and downs. You need to be able to hold your nerves and be able to keep up and you need to be able to keep putting up good performances after good performances. All the travel, all the drama outside, the pressure – all of it is there every year. But somehow this season, it felt like there was a lot more and somehow I think that affected the team and we couldn’t put in performances when it really mattered,” he said.

IPL captaincy

The Karnataka batter felt IPL captaincy wasn’t the most important thing for him, while revealing his love for his home franchise — Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

“I would never go and ask someone for it. If you feel that my leadership skills are good enough, and you find something good in the way I play my cricket and in the way I handle myself, the way that I handle the team that I’ve captained in the last four to five years, and if you find it worthy, then of course I’m happy to do it,” he said.

“But it’s not something that is a make or break for me. I just want to be part of a team that has a good environment. You feel loved, cared for and respected in that environment and everyone in that franchise has one single goal to win the idea. then that’s a perfect fit.”

“I most enjoyed playing at RCB. It’s also home,” he said. “You get to spend a lot of time at home, and I know the Chinnaswamy [Stadium] really well. I’ve grown up playing on that ground. So yeah, I really enjoyed my time in RCB,” he added.

On being asked about his feelings if the prospect of returning to RCB arises in the IPL mega auction in Jeddah, Rahul said, “Yeah, of course like I said, it’s kind of home and the people there know me as a local Kannada boy, and it would be nice to go back there and get an opportunity again. But yeah, it’s an auction year so you can go anywhere.”

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