Video: Life Beyond Cricket with KL Rahul

Rahul said scoring a Test century at the SCG in his second match was “very satisfying”

Indian youngster Lokesh Rahul, who came to national prominence through his performances for the Bangalore Brigadiers (Urban) team in the Karnataka Premier League, is confident of yet another brilliant showing in the domestic T20 tournament.

He is currently playing for the senior team in the first Test match against Sri Lanka and will miss the initial part of the fourth edition of the KPL, which begins on September 2nd, but expressed confidence that he can repeat his feat of being the highest run getter that he achieved in Season 3.

"I will try to get a couple of hundreds and be the highest run getter again. That’s my challenge this time,” Rahul said. 

After a disastrous Test debut Down Under where he managed to face just 13 deliveries in both innings making a meagre four runs, Rahul found support in Virat Kohli who continued with the Karnataka batsman in the fourth Test at the SCG. He grabbed his second opportunity with both hands and scored a fine century to cement his place as the backup opener for India in the longer format of the game. 

“The whole atmosphere there was very new to me and it was a great challenge,” he said. “I’m really happy and I have no regrets that I failed in the first Test match and didn’t feel like I wasted an opportunity. I came back stronger in the second Test match and it was a very satisfying feeling.”

While Kohli has the confidence in Rahul, the Karnataka batsman has drawn inspiration from his Test skipper’s style statements. Rahul says he too is addicted to tattoos and is planning to extend his already impressive collection of seven tattoos on his body. He also revealed that he likes to sport different hairstyles in different seasons.  

The 23-year-old had words of praise for KPL: “KPL has been a very good platform for the Karnataka batsmen. It gives the players a lot of exposure and its that time of the year where the lads are willing to give their 100% on the field and do really well against the opposition.”

“You finish the game, you come back and get to interact with the other players and its a lot of fun. So we enjoy playing the KPL and it’s always done a lot of good for Karnataka cricket,” Rahul said. 

Here’s the full Q&A video: