Both these players were part of RCB under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and then in Team India also both the players performed well under the leadership of Kohli.
Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL 2022) The season is about to start exactly a month later. The 15th season of the world’s biggest and most famous T20 league will start from 26 March. With this, once again some new faces will make their mark, while some players will improve their game and hope to knock on the door of Team India. This series has been going on for the last 14 seasons and many players have improved themselves through this league and if former Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli (Virat Kohli) I myself have seen many such players closely. If asked in which player he has seen the biggest change due to IPL, Kohli named two of his old teammates from RCB – KL Rahul (KL Rahul) and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Virat Kohli, former captain of Team India and Royal Challengers Bangalore A podcast from RCB Talking about Rahul and Chahal in I, he said that he has seen these two players making a big improvement in themselves through IPL. Under the captaincy of Kohli, both these players recognized their careers in RCB itself and then after coming to Team India, they also made a mark by showcasing their talent at the international level.
Talking about Rahul, Virat Kohli said that when Rahul left RCB in 2013, he did not see much batting after that, but he was very impressed by seeing his batting on debut on Australia tour in 2014. The former captain said,
“I saw him make his Test debut in Australia in 2014 and I was like, ‘Wow, this definitely made a big difference to his game. He has come back as a great player and has made a strong start in Australia.
However, at that time Rahul was a part of Sunrisers Hyderabad and he was not getting much opportunities. Kohli said that in such a situation he felt that by coming to RCB, Rahul would get a chance to play freely and hence he was bought by RCB. Kohli said, “When given the opportunity, I felt this player has tremendous talent and maybe playing for RCB in Bangalore will give him some relief, because he will be playing in front of his home audience. Then there’s AB (de Villiers), Chris (Gayle) and me too, so he can play a role. Maybe his confidence will increase.”
KL Rahul became a part of RCB in 2016 and in that season he performed tremendously, scoring 397 runs in 14 matches at an average of 44 and strike rate of 146. He was also instrumental in taking RCB to the final that year. However, Bangalore lost that final.
Apart from Rahul, Kohli also saw Chahal becoming a better bowler through IPL. Talking about Chahal, Kohli said, “The same was the case with Yuji. Earlier he was not getting much opportunities in IPL and then he came to Bangalore. A bowler who always wanted to keep bowling and the kind of bowling he bowled at Chinnaswamy was unbelievable. From there his life changed.”
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