Till 2015, K L Rahul was no more than a distress replacement in the Indian Premier League. The right-hander, however, seemed to be shedding his image in 2016 as a long-form batsman with a few breezy knocks before a shoulder injury laid him low and forced him to miss the 2017 edition. In the auction prior to the 11th edition, Kings XI Punjab broke the bank to buy the 28-year-old and in the last two seasons, his impact on the Mohali franchise has been so huge that he was appointed its skipper, a move that coincided with the incumbent, R Ashwin, moving to Delhi Capitals. Relieved and excited at the prospect of playing some competitive cricket after a pandemic-forced long break, Rahul, in this freewheeling chat, discusses a range of issues: from KXIP's prospects to captaincy and from Head Coach Anil Kumble's presence in the dressing room to Chris Gayle's role.
You will be playing competitive cricket after six and a half months. As a player, what are the challenges going into such a big competition, both mentally and skill-wise?
It will be quite challenging. Like you said we are going into such a big tournament without any cricket behind us. Not a lot of players have even had one 'nets' session before coming here. A lot of people have managed a few sessions but most of them are coming with a lot of physical training, but they haven’t spent enough time on the ground. I think we get about three weeks of training time and that will be crucial for us to use it as best as we can. I am sure we will manage to get enough skill sessions, get a few practice matches if possible, and try to get the players in the best shape possible. We have all been playing cricket for four or five years, we have played so much cricket. Four or five months will not magically change everything for anybody. It will obviously take a few days to get into it. I am sure people will be nervous coming into this but it’s also good that we get enough and more training time so that we can focus on getting our skills back and spending a lot of time on the pitch.
How do you look at the triple challenges - keeper, opener and captain?
When you put it like that it does sound quite challenging! I won’t say a job, but a new responsibility given to me. I’m looking forward to it. So far it has not made me nervous. It has not made me question myself. So, yeah, I’m quite excited. I have always played my cricket thinking like I am the captain of the team even though I wasn’t, so I am always thinking about the game and trying to read the situation, trying to see what I can do if I were a captain. So, I feel it is just going to be an extension of what I have been doing. Obviously, it is going to be a lot more difficult than what I am thinking right now. I will take it as it comes. I have a great set of team and great support staff to back me and help me get into the groove.
Do you plan to continue to open and keep?
Yeah, that is what my plan is. That is what I would want to. But, again, it is still early times, I still will have to talk to the coach. I don’t know what Anil bhai is thinking. We will see how the team combinations sit. We do have plenty of options of wicketkeeper-batsmen. We will take as it comes. We haven’t really spoken about what role each one’s going to play yet. The six-day quarantine in Dubai will give us enough time to get on the phone and talk to the coach and just get some planning going.
Could you compare the last two seasons as a batsman? The roles you played and why?
In 2019, if I’m not wrong, I won more games than I won in 2018. In 2018, yes I did have the confidence and the freedom to go after the bowlers. I was in a different mind-space where I was looking to dominate bowling, and it was all about my batting and how I can get the team to off to a good start. That was my main aim. But in 2019, it became about how I can win matches for my team once I got off to a decent start. Every year, every batsman evolves, and he realizes what’s good for the team. My main aim became winning games for my team.
Setting up matches so that the other players can come in and either finish the game or I put my team in a good position – that was 2018. But 2019, my sole focus was I am going to be there till the end and finish as many matches as I can. So that is where the difference in strike rate is there. But it is not something we as players really sit and think and worry about. At least for me, it is not something I’m worried about. I know I can play at 160 or I can play at 100, 110 whenever I need (to). That is how I have changed my batting; I try to play the situation. I try to see what the wicket is like and if I am batting first what is a good score, what is a defendable or a challenging enough total and I try to pace my batting according to that.
Does captaincy change your thought process about your batting?
I am sure it will make me think. I can’t lie. I’m sure it will make me think differently. Again, I don’t think it is going to change too much because as a captain or as a player my aim is to win matches for my team. So, it really won’t change a lot. This year we have even better middle order. We have solid batsmen and more explosive batsmen, so it gives me a little bit more freedom than last year. It all depends on that given day. I have never played cricket with a set plan.
Personally, the last two seasons have been great for you but we have seen KXIP get off to a good start but somehow lose the momentum towards the end. Do you think that is one area you will have to address particularly?
It was something that, you know, obviously didn’t work in our favour in the last couple of seasons. Keeping that in mind, even before (last) auction, myself, Anil bhai, and the franchisees spoke about (it). This is one area where we felt we needed to fix the issue. And that is why we went after certain players, we were very clear about players who we thought will fit our line up perfectly. Yeah, I mean, we can’t go into this season with that baggage. But we have obviously learnt that IPL is a long season. It’s important that we peak at the right time and get the momentum going with us.
You have Anil Kumble as the head coach now and we know how good strategically he is. Do you think that is what you needed at this moment with the personnel you have and the kind of guidance you will get, like a perfect combination?
Yes, it is. The day I got to know Anil bhai is the coach and then they said I am going to be the captain, I was very pleased. Like you said, he is somebody who is strategically good. He comes in with so many wickets and so much cricket. And he has played IPL himself for so many seasons and he has led the team. You know, as a player and as a captain, he will obviously help me a lot. And to have somebody like that as a coach will help the team. People around me will definitely benefit a lot from him. The (amount of) time I have to sit and think about strategies will be a lot less because I am sure he will do it and he will lay it out to me to make my life easy.
He has done so well only because he is such a sharp thinker. He understands the game. I have played a lot under him and I have known him for a while, so I know how he works. He is going to make sure the boys are training hard and are in the best mindset possible. I have never thought about it because it has just always been easy working with Anil bhai. He makes things simple. He makes players’ roles and responsibilities very clear, so it gives the players enough time to think about. So as a captain my load will be a lot lesser with him around.
What is Chris Gayle’s role going to be?
A. To have somebody like that, just the name in itself, it shakes up an opponent or it has so much impact. And what Chris has done with teams that he has played, and Kings XI is, really, really unbelievable if you ask me. If you were part of the Kings XI dressing room, you will know what kind of impact he has. He is somebody who is very, very open to talking to youngsters and helping other people out. He comes in with so much T20 experience. He is by far one of the best T20 players ever. You know that when he walks and when it’s his day no matter how good the bowling line-up or an opponent, he will take them down and he will win the match. So, to have somebody like that is a blessing.
The partnership that we have shared and the rapport we have shared is brilliant. We share a great friendship away from the field as well. He is somebody who has always guided as I have gone up to him and spoken to him a lot about T20 batting and opening the batting – he is somebody who is a very deep thinker of the game. And I don’t think a lot of people know that about him. They just think he is just brute force and he just takes down (bowling attacks) and he keeps scoring runs in T20s, but there is a lot of planning that Chris does well. I get to understand and see that in the middle and that has helped me in my game personally as well. To have him again this year is great. We have spoken a bit during the lockdown as well – he seems to be training really hard. He is keen to do what Chris Gayle does so that is a great sign for us.
What role do you see for (Glenn) Maxwell? He is returning to the fold after treatment for mental illness and all that.
We were very clear that we needed Maxwell in our middle order. I never had a doubt that he would go to any other team. I knew that Maxwell would come here. I have spoken to him before. The last couple of seasons he has changed a lot in terms of how he plays his cricket. He started to win so many more games for Australia. He was somebody who would go and takedown, he still can take down, bowling. But it is amazing to see how he has changed his mindset as well to how he can start winning games for the team.
He is an allrounder that any team would love to have. He is a gun fielder. He will give it everything he has every game. He’ll never complain about being sore or being tired. He will never do that. On wickets like those in the UAE, he would be more than handy as a bowler.
How do you look at this big Karnataka component? It’s like almost half the team, including the support staff, is from Karnataka.
It’s always good to have the Karnataka boys. The kind of performances the team has been putting up in the last two-three years is there to be seen for everybody. Everyone wants Karnataka players in their line-up. They know that we come with the champions’ mindset, we are hungry to perform. The guys that we have in the team are a great set of players. (K) Gowtham, Karun (Nair) and Mayank (Agarwal) have been playing for a while. (J) Suchith is someone who is extremely talented and done really, really well in the opportunities he has got in the IPL. Having played with them for so many years, I can understand what I can get out of them. At least out of 20 players, I know what to get out of four players fully. I can think about the other 16 players on how I can use their skill sets to make sure our team wins.
What kind of cricket do you expect the Kings XI to play?
We have a team that is filled with impact players, all power players – starts with Mayank and (Nicholas) Pooran and Maxwell and (Jimmy) Neesham and we have (Deepak) Hooda and Sarfaraz (Khan). These are all who can play 360 degrees. I can’t think of any other team that has 4-5 batsmen who play like that.
We will be a team that adapts, adapts to different wickets, adapts to different situations. For us being aggressive will be that. Aggressive for us will not be going from ball one and going ka-boom. It is about reading the situation right and trying to do what best we can on that certain day. We will always be open to learning and keep getting better as a team.
I mean I didn’t even speak about the bowling unit: there is youth, there is experience, there is a mystery. As a captain when I look down on the team list it is going to be difficult to put a XI on the part, but we have so many options which make things competitive and good for me to pick from.
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