Kannur Lokesh Rahul (; born 18 April 1992) is an Indian international cricketer. A right-handed wicket-keeping batsman, Rahul captains the Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League. He made his international debut in 2014 against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the Boxing Day Test-match in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. Two years after his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut, Rahul made his One-Day International debut in 2016 against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, where he scored his first century by hitting a six on the last ball to reach 100* (115) from 94 (114), which was also the only six of the entire match. Rahul is the first and only Indian cricketer to score an ODI

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

on his debut. On the same tour, he made his

T20I A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

debut. He is the fastest batsman in the world to score an International century across all three formats, taking only twenty innings.

Early and personal life

KL Rahul and Athiya Shetty during Marriage

Rahul was born on 18 April 1992 to K. N. Lokesh and Rajeshwari in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. His father Lokesh, who hails from Kannanur in Magadi, is a professor and former director at the

National Institute of Technology Karnataka National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), also known as NITK Surathkal, formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC), is a public technical university at Surathkal, Mangalore. It was founded in 1960 as KREC while to ...

(NITK) in

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

. His mother, Rajeshwari, is a professor at Mangalore University. His father was a fan of cricketer Sunil Gavaskar and wanted to name his own son after Gavaskar's son but mistook

Rohan Gavaskar Rohan Sunil Gavaskar (born 20 February 1976) is an Indian former cricketer. He played in 11 One Day Internationals. He was a middle-order left-handed batsman and an occasional slow left arm orthodox bowler. Rohan is the son of Indian cricke ...

's name for Rahul. His mother tongue is

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

. Rahul grew up in

, completing his high school at NITK English Medium School and pre-university at St. Aloysius College. He started cricket training at the age of 10, and, two years later, started playing matches for both Bangalore United Cricket Club and his club in Mangalore. At age 18, he moved to

to study at

Jain University Jain University, officially JAIN (Deemed-to-be University), is a private deemed-to-be-university in Bangalore, India. Originating from Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College, it was conferred the deemed-to-be-university status in 2009. In August ...

and pursue his cricket career. On 23 January 2023, Rahul married his long-time partner, Indian actress

Athiya Shetty Athiya Shetty (born 5 November 1992) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. She is the daughter of actor Suniel Shetty. Shetty debuted her acting career in the romantic action film ''Hero'' 2015 for which she won a International Ind ...

, daughter of actor

Suniel Shetty Suniel Shetty (born Sunil V. Shetty; 11 August 1961) is an Indian actor, film producer, television personality and entrepreneur who is predominantly active in Hindi films he has also worked in tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and kannada films. In a ca ...

, after dating for more than three years.

Domestic career

Rahul made his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

debut for

in the 2010–11 season. In the same season, he represented his country at the

2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was the eighth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup and took place in New Zealand. Since 1998, the tournament has been held every 2 years. This edition had 16 teams competing in 44 matches between 15 a ...

, scoring 143 runs in the competition. He made his debut in the Indian Premier League in 2013, for

Royal Challengers Bangalore Royal Challengers Bangalore (often abbreviated as RCB) are a franchise cricket team based in Bangalore, Karnataka, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was founded in 2008 by United Spirits and named after the company's liquor b ...

. During the 2013–14 domestic season he scored 1,033 first-class runs, the second highest scorer that season. Playing for South Zone in the final of the

2014–15 Duleep Trophy 2014–15 Duleep Trophy was the 54th season of the Duleep Trophy, a first-class cricket tournament contested by 5 zonal teams of India: Central Zone, East Zone, North Zone, South Zone and West Zone. Central Zone won the tournament after beatin ...

against Central Zone, Rahul scored 185 off 233 balls in the first innings and 130 off 152 in the second. He was named the player of the match and selected to the Indian Test squad for the Australian tour followed. Returning home after the Test series, Rahul became Karnataka's first triple-centurion, scoring 337 against

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. He went on to score 188 in the

2014–15 Ranji Trophy The 2014–15 Ranji Trophy was the 81st season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament in India. It was contested by 27 teams divided into three groups of nine teams each. The top three teams from Groups A and B advance ...

final against

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

and finished the season with an average of 93.11 in the nine matches he played.

International career

Debut and early career (2014–2021)

Rahul made his Test debut in the 2014

Boxing Day Test The Boxing Day Test match is a cricket Test match held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, involving the Australian cricket team and an opposing national team that is touring Australia during the southern summer. It begins annually on Boxing D ...

at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

. He replaced

Rohit Sharma Rohit Gurunath Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian international cricketer and the current captain of the Indian cricket team. Widely considered as one of the best opening batter of all time, he plays as a right-handed batsman for Mumbai ...

and was presented with his Test cap by

MS Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian former international cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is also the curren ...

. He managed to score only 3 and 1 on his debut. In the next test at

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

where he opened the innings for the first time, and made his maiden international century, scoring 110 runs. He was named in the 15-man squad for the Indian tour of Bangladesh in June 2015 but withdrew due to dengue. He returned to the side for the first Test of the Sri Lankan tour after Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, scoring his second Test century and winning the Man of the Match award. During the match, he kept wicket after Wriddhiman Saha was injured. In July 2016, Rahul was named in the squad for India tour of West Indies. In the second series test, Rahul scored 158 runs, his then-highest score in test cricket. In September 2016, he was named in the squad for the home series against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. After the first test, he was replaced by

Gautam Gambhir Gautam Gambhir (; born 14 October 1981) is an Indian politician and former cricketer, who has played all formats of the game. He is a current member of the Lok Sabha since 2019. He received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 2019, th ...

due to an injury. Rahul was selected in the squad against England in the 2016-17 Test series but was injured while training in the nets. He was ruled out of the third test, but he made his comeback to the team in the fourth test but failed to make an impact. In the fifth and final test of the series, Rahul went on to make his fourth test ton, scoring his career-best 199 runs. Rahul was named in the squad to tour Zimbabwe in 2016. He made his

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) debut against

at Harare Sports Club. Rahul scored an unbeaten 100*(115) on debut, thus becoming the first Indian cricketer to score a century on an ODI debut. He was named the man of the series. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) debut later in the same tour. Rahul got out on a golden duck on his T20I debut as India lost the first T20I against Zimbabwe. Rahul was named in T20I squad for the tour of West Indies in 2016, where he made his first T20I century of just 46 balls and ended up scoring an unbeaten 110 off just 51 balls. He became the first player to score a T20I century while batting at number four in a one-run defeat whilst in pursuit of 246, the highest T20I run chase at that time. In his 20th international innings, Rahul became the fastest batsman to have scored centuries in all three formats, surpassing the record of

Ahmed Shehzad Ahmed Shehzad ( Punjabi:احمد شہزاد; born 23 November 1991) is a Pakistani international cricketer. He is an opening batsman who made his One Day International and Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan in April 2009 against Australi ...

, who took 76 innings. On 3 July 2018, Rahul scored his second T20 International ton against England. He is also the first Indian batsman to be dismissed hit-wicket in T20Is. On 11 January 2019,

Hardik Pandya Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international cricketer. An All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium, Pandya has played in all 3 formats for India. He also plays for Baroda cricket team in do ...

and Rahul were suspended by the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

(BCCI) following misogynistic comments they made on the Indian talk show '' Koffee with Karan'' earlier in the month. They were both sent home ahead of the ODI series against Australia and the fixtures of India's tour to New Zealand. On 24 January 2019, after lifting the suspension on Pandya and Rahul, the BCCI announced that Rahul would re-join the squad for India A matches. In April 2019, he was named in India's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...

. He played at number 4 in the first two games but got back to opening the innings alongside

when

Shikhar Dhawan Shikhar Dhawan (born 5 December 1985) is an Indian cricketer. Being a left-handed opening batsman and occasional captain of the India national cricket team, he captains Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and plays for Delhi in first-class ...

was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to injury. Overall, Rahul scored 361 runs with two fifties and one hundred in the tournament and finished as India's third-highest run scorer in the tournament after

and

Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed Batting (cricket), batte ...

. Due to lack of form in the Test format, Rahul was dropped from the squad for the home tests against South Africa. However, he remained in the limited over sides. In December 2019, in the first T20I match against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, Rahul scored his 1,000th run in T20I cricket. He scored 62 (40) in the first T20I against West Indies. He scored 91 (56) in the third T20I, for which he was convicted the Man of the Match. He scored his 3rd ODI century in the 2nd ODI against West Indies. In the 2-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, Rahul scored 45 in the first match and 54 in the second T20I. In January 2020, Rahul made 80 (52) batting at number five in the second ODI against Australia and was rewarded as the man of the match. In India's tour of New Zealand in 2019–20, Rahul was declared man of the series in the five-match T20I series for scoring 224 runs at an average of 56. He was also the stand-in captain in the 5th T20I after

suffered a hamstring injury during the 1st innings. In the ODI series against New Zealand, he scored 88* (64) in the first ODI and scored his fourth ton in ODIs, 112 (113) in the third ODI. In October 2020, Rahul was named as

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

's vice captain for the ODI and T20I series against Australia. Rahul had a moderate ODI and T20I series against Australia. He made 77 against Australia in the second ODI and 51 in the first T20I. India lost the ODI series 2–1 but won the T20I series by the same margin. Rahul was included in the test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but was not picked in the playing XI for the first two Tests. He injured himself during practice and was ruled out of the remaining part of the tour. As a result, he also missed the home Test series against England in February 2021. He returned to the national side for the T20I and ODI series against England. There was a dip in his form in the T20I series. He returned to form in the ODI series scoring a match-winning 62* and was involved in a 100-run partnership with debutant Krunal Pandya who scored a fifty. He continued his form by scoring 108 runs in the second ODI and was involved in another 100-run partnership with Rishabh Pant. Rahul was named to India's test squad for their tour of England in 2021. As

Shubman Gill Shubman Gill (born 8 September 1999) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for Punjab in domestic cricket as a right-handed opening batsman. He was the vice-captain of the India U-19 team for 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He got awar ...

and Mayank Agarwal were injured, Rahul opened alongside teammate

.In the first test at Trent Bridge, Rahul scored 84 and 26. He scored 129 (250) at Lords and was awarded the man of the match in the second test. Rahul displayed excellent technical skills for batting in England, including playing the ball late and leaving the ball well. Rahul scored 315 runs in eight innings of four matches played and was the second-highest run scorer for India in the tour behind Rohit Sharma.

Vice-captaincy (2021–22)

In September 2021, Rahul was named to India's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...

. He was the highest run scorer for India in the tournament, scoring 194 runs including three consecutive fifties. He also scored the tournament's joint fastest fifty in just 18 balls against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. After Virat Kohli stepped down as Indian T20i captain, Rahul was appointed the Vice-captain of

Indian Cricket Team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the International ...

in T20i as former Vice-captain Rohit Sharma was appointed the new Captain of T20i format. Later, Rahul was appointed ODI vice-captain as well due to the change of captaincy in the white ball format of the Indian team. In December 2021, Rahul was named as India's test vice-captain for the away series against South Africa after India's regular vice-captain

was ruled out of the series. Rahul was also named as the ODI captain for the One Day series of the same tour as India's regular ODI captain

was ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. In the first test match against South Africa in December 2021, he scored 123 in India's first innings and 23 in India's second innings. For this performance, he was awarded the Man of the Match award. In the second test against South Africa in January 2022, Rahul captained India for the first time in test cricket and became the 34th Test captain of India. He scored a half-century on his captaincy debut. Despite his best efforts, Rahul couldn't lead the team to victory, and India lost the second Test by seven wickets. In the first ODI against South Africa, he made his debut in ODI Captaincy and became the 26th ODI captain of India. However, India lost the series 3–0 to South Africa. KL Rahul 2022

In February 2022, during the second ODI of India against the West Indies, Rahul scored 49 (48) and completed 6000 runs in

International cricket International cricket matches are played between teams representing their nations, normally organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The main forms are Test matches, One-Day matches and Twenty20 matches. Most games are played ...

across all formats. In the same ODI, Rahul sustained an upper left hamstring strain and was ruled out of the next ODI as well as the upcoming T20Is series against the West Indies. Rahul was named captain for the South African tour of India in June, but was later ruled out of the series due to a groin injury. After a successful sports hernia surgery, Rahul came back to the team and was named captain for the India Tour of Zimbabwe in August. Rahul was the stand-in captain for the team during the last match played by team India in the

2022 Asia Cup The 2022 Asia Cup (also known as DP World Asia Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, with the matches played as Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) during August and September 2022 in the United Arab Em ...

against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. Due to poor form, in February 2023 he was removed from the Test vice-captaincy, with his spot in the team questioned. Rahul made his return to cricket in Asia Cup 2023 against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Rahul scored an unbeaten century on his return, scoring 111 off 106 balls. Following a successful Asia Cup, Rahul was named in the squad for

2023 Cricket World Cup The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the 13th edition of the Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It is sch ...

. Ahead of the World Cup, Rahul was named as the captain for first two ODIs for the series against

. Rahul started his World Cup 2023 campaign scoring an unbeaten 97 against

in a tricky chase after India lost 3 wickets at the score of 2. In the final match of the group stage of the World Cup, against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

at the

M. Chinnaswamy Stadium The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (formerly known as the Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium) is a cricket stadium located in Bangalore, Karnataka. Flanked by the picturesque Cubbon Park, Queen's Road, Cubbon and uptown MG Road, this five-dec ...

, Rahul recorded the fastest century by an Indian batter in a World Cup, when he reached the milestone in 62 deliveries. He coincidentally broke the record held by

who hit a century earlier of 63 deliveries in the tournament during India's match against Afghanistan. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against Australia, Rahul top scored in India's first innings with 66 runs as they struggled to 240 and were comfortably defeated by 6-wickets. On 30 November, Rahul was announced as the captain for the 3 match ODI series against South Africa after the regular ODI captain

had taken a break following an intense 2023 Cricket World Cup schedule. Rahul subsequently, won the series 2-1 making him the second captain after

to win an ODI series in South Africa. In December 2023, during the first test match of the series between India and South Africa, Rahul scored his 8th test match century helping India to post a challenging first innings score of 245 during challenging batting conditions. He top scored that innings with 101 runs with the second highest score only being 38 runs. Despite his efforts, India ended up losing the match by an innings and 32 runs. Rahul scored 86 and 22 in defeat in the first test of England's 2023–24 tour India. However, he missed the rest of the series through injury.

Indian Premier League

Debut and early seasons (2013–2017)

Rahul made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for

(RCB) as a wicket-keeper batsman during the 2013 competition. Ahead of the

2014 IPL The 2014 season of the Indian Premier League, abbreviated as IPL 7 or Pepsi IPL 2014, was the seventh season of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournam ...

, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 1 crore. Rahul returned to RCB ahead of the

2016 IPL The 2016 season of the Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 9, and branded as Vivo (smartphone), Vivo IPL 2016 for sponsorship reasons, was the ninth season of the IPL, a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Cont ...

season. In the 2016 IPL season with

, Rahul finished the season as the 11th-highest run-scorer and RCB's third, with 397 runs from 14 matches. For his performances in the 2016 IPL season, he was named as wicketkeeper in the ''ESPNcricinfo'' and '' Cricbuzz'' IPL XI. Rahul missed the 2017 season due to a shoulder injury.

Stint with Punjab Kings (2018–2021)

In the 2018 IPL Auction, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab (now

Punjab Kings Punjab Kings (PBKS) are a franchise cricket team based in Mohali, Punjab, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Established in 2008 as the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zin ...

) for INR 11 crore, the joint-third highest price. In the team's first match of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, he scored the fastest 50 in IPL history, taking 14 balls to reach the milestone and breaking the record of

Sunil Narine Sunil Philip Narine (born 26 May 1988) is a Trinidadian cricketer who plays internationally for the West Indies. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in December 2011 and Test match debut in June 2012. Primarily an off-spin bowler, he ...

. KL in total scored 659 runs in the season at a strike rate of 158.41 and an average of 54.91. He finished the season as third highest run scorer, and he was named in the ''Cricinfo'' and ''Cricbuzz'' IPL XI. Kings XI Punjab retained Rahul for the 2019 season. Rahul was named as vice-captain for the season. He scored his maiden IPL century, scoring 100

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

off 64 balls against

Mumbai Indians Mumbai Indians are a franchise cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League and is the most successful team of the tournament with 5 titles. Founded in 2008, the team is owned by India's biggest conglo ...

. In total KL scored 593 runs in the season with average of 53.90 and strike rate of 135.38. On 19 December 2019, Rahul was announced as captain of the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

for the 2020 season, after former captain

Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricke ...

was traded to Delhi Capitals. In the match against RCB on 24 September 2020, he scored an unbeaten 132*, then the most runs scored by an Indian batsman in an IPL match. Rahul won the

Orange Cap The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a Twenty20 cricket competition based in India. The tournament honours players with several awards at the end of each season. They are Orange Cap, Purple Cap, Maximum Sixes Award, Most Valuable Player and Emergin ...

in IPL 2020 for scoring most runs in IPL 2020 (670 runs). He was also awarded as the Dream 11 Game changer of the season. KL Rahul was retained as the captain by the

ahead of the

2021 IPL The 2021 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 14, or for sponsorship reasons, Vivo IPL 2021, was the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cric ...

season. He scored 626 runs in

IPL 2021 The 2021 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 14, or for sponsorship reasons, Vivo IPL 2021, was the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cric ...

, finishing as the team's highest scorer in the season.

Lucknow Super Giants (2022–present)

Prior to the

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, Rahul parted ways with the

and was drafted by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as their captain for INR 17 crore, making him the joint highest paid cricketer in the IPL alongside

. On 16 April 2022, Rahul scored his first century for Lucknow (103* off 60) against Mumbai. He followed this up with another unbeaten century(103* off 62) against the same opposition eight days later. Rahul led his team to play-offs in the debut season for LSG but ended up losing to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Eliminator. Rahul was the highest scorer for his team, scoring 616 runs with an average of 51.33 scoring 2 centuries in the season. Rahul was retained as the captain for Lucknow Super Giants for

2023 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. Rahul was ruled out of the tournament mid way after sustaining an injury while fielding in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

KL Rahul Net Worth

As of 2024, Kannur Lokesh Rahul net worth is estimated at around $12 Million (₹ 99 crores).

International centuries

As of January 2024 Rahul has made 17 international centuries - 8 in

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

, 7 in

One-Day Internationals A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

and 2 in T20Is. Rahul is the only Indian player to score a century on his ODI debut. He is also the first batter to score a century in T20Is while playing at 4th or lower batting position.