Rahul aspires to be 'cherished, nurtured, and valued' in his upcoming IPL squad

KL Rahul is eager to embrace a sense of "freedom" as he prepares for the upcoming mega auction in the IPL. After being released by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) following the team's seventh-place finish in IPL 2024, Rahul is looking forward to playing in a "much more balanced" environment where he can showcase his skills to their fullest potential.

At the time, franchise owner Sanjiv Goenka spoke of their keenness to hold on to "players who have a mindset to win" and those that "put the team before their personal goals and aspirations". Did that in any way prompt Rahul's keenness to enter the auction?

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"No, I mean, I think the decision was made already and I don't know what the comments are, but they must have come after the announcement," Rahul told Star Sports in an interview aired on November 12. "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.

"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."

Rahul led LSG into the playoffs in their first two seasons, in 2022 and 2023. 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. And then, they went on a downward spiral, even as Rahul topped their charts with 520 runs at a strike rate of 136.12.

Captaincy is 'not something that is a make or break for me'

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Despite those runs, there had been considerable speculation over Rahul's future at the franchise ever since visuals surfaced of an animated chat between him and Goenka following LSG's defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad towards the end of the league phase.

"There's always ups and downs," he said. "You need to be able to hold your nerves and be able to keep 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."

Looking ahead, Rahul said IPL captaincy wasn't the most important thing for him at this stage, but playing in a "good environment" was. "I would never go and ask someone for it," Rahul said when asked how important IPL captaincy was to him. "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.

"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 on that franchise has one single goal to win the idea. there then that's a perfect fit."

Even as social media chatter of a potential reunion with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, his hometown team, gathers steam, Rahul was pragmatic about the possibility of playing anywhere. But it's no secret which team he has a soft corner for. "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."

Would he love to go back to RCB?

"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."