Delhi Capitals signed the star India cricketer KL Rahul for a hefty price of Rs 14 crore at the IPL mega auction 2025 on Sunday (November 24). Delhi Capitals fought an intense bidding war with Chennai Super Kings for the former Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain in Jeddah and had the last laugh.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) also showed a keen interest in their former player but were forced out in the bidding war by Capitals and CSK. Lucknow Super Giants refrained from using the Right to Match (RTM) option for Rahul.
Notably, KL Rahul was in superb form with the willow in hand in the previous edition (IPL 2024) of the Indian Premier League. Leading Lucknow Super Giants in the lucrative T20 tournament, Rahul amassed 520 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 136.12. He was also fairly consistent with his knocks as he averaged 37.12 during the tournament.
The right-handed batter scored four half-centuries during IPL 2024. Under his leadership, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) finished seventh on the points table with seven wins and as many losses, accumulating 14 points at a net run rate (NRR) of -0.667.
Rahul has played for four different teams in his IPL career. He represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in his maiden IPL season in 2013 and scored 20 runs in two innings. In 2014 and 2015, Rahul played for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and scored 166 and 142 runs across the two seasons.
He then returned to RCB in 2016 and enjoyed a breakout season. In 2016, Rahul aggregated 397 runs at an average of 44.11 and a strike rate of 146.49, including four fifties. He was then roped in by Punjab Kings (PBKS) and played the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons for them.
Before the IPL 2022 season, Rahul was bought by Lucknow Super Giants and he served them as captain for three seasons on the bounce. Under KL Rahul's captaincy, LSG qualified for the playoffs in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
He is currently playing for Team India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
