K. L. Rahul

K. L. Rahul

Rahul at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2015
Personal information
Full name	Kannur Lokesh Rahul[1]
Born	(1992-04-17) 17 April 1992 Mangalore, Karnataka, India
Batting style	Right-handed
Role	Batsman; Occasional wicket-keeper
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 284)	26 December 2014 v Australia
Last Test	17 November 2016 v England
ODI debut (cap 213)	11 June 2016 v Zimbabwe
Last ODI	15 June 2016 v Zimbabwe
ODI shirt no.	11
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2010–present	Karnataka
2013, 2016-present	Royal Challengers Bangalore
2014–2015	Sunrisers Hyderabad (squad no. 11)
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC T20Is Matches 10 3 46 5 Runs scored 572 196 3963 179 Batting average 33.64 196 52.84 89.50 100s/50s 3/1 1/1 12/15 1/0 Top score 158 100* 337 110* Balls bowled - - 168 - Wickets - - 0 - Bowling average - - - - 5 wickets in innings - - - - 10 wickets in match - - - - Best bowling - - - - Catches/stumpings 16/0 3/0 49/0 1/0
Source: Cricinfo, 02 September 2016

Kannur Lokesh Rahul (born 18 April 1992), commonly known as KL Rahul and also as Lokesh Rahul, is an Indian cricketer who plays for India national cricket team in international cricket, and Karnataka in domestic cricket. A right-handed batsman and occasional wicket-keeper, Rahul played for India at the 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Rahul started his international career making his debut against Australia in the 2014-15 Test series at Melbourne. In his second Test match at Sydney, he scored 110, his maiden Test century. He became the first Indian to score a century on One Day International debut, scoring 100* against Zimbabwe on 11 June 2016 at Harare Sports Club.^[2] He is only the third Indian batsman to score a century in all the three formats of International Cricket. He is also the second fastest international batsman in Twenty20, and fastest Indian in all the formats, to score a century (100 for 46 balls),^[3] scoring 110* for 51 balls against West Indies on 27 August 2016.^[4][5] Rahul is the only batsman to reach the score of 100 with a Boundary on his maiden centuries in all the three formats of the International cricket.

Domestic career

Rahul made his debut in the 2010-11 season, playing first-class cricket for Karnataka. He made his debut in Indian Premier League in 2013, playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore.^[6]

Playing for South Zone in the final of the 2014–15 Duleep Trophy against Central Zone, Rahul scored 185 off 233 balls in the first innings and 130 off 152 balls in the second. Although his contribution went in vain with South Zone losing the match by nine runs, his efforts earned him the man of the match award and selection to the Indian Test squad for the Australian tour in December 2014.

Against Uttar Pradesh in the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy, Rahul became the first triple-centurion for Karnataka in first-class cricket on 30 January 2015, scoring 337 off 448 balls at Bengaluru. His knock included 47 fours and 4 sixes. He also made 188 runs in the final against Tamil Nadu and finished the same Ranji season with an average of 93.11 in the nine matches he played.

International career

After an excellent domestic season in 2014, Rahul was picked in the Indian Test squad for the Australian tour. He made his Test debut in the Boxing Day Test beginning on 26 December 2014 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He replaced Rohit Sharma and was handed over the Test cap by MS Dhoni. He came to bat at number 6 and made 3 runs in the first innings. In the second innings he played at number 3 and made only 1 run. He retained his place for the fourth Test played at Sydney Cricket Ground. He opened the innings with Murali Vijay and made 110 runs, his maiden international hundred.

He was a part of the 15-man squad for the tour of Bangladesh in June 2015 but later withdrew due to dengue fever. He then made a comeback into the Test team in the first Test of the Sri Lankan tour after Murali Vijay was ruled out due to a hamstring injury. But he did not show any progress as he got out early in both innings for less than 10 runs. In the second match of the series, Shikhar Dhawan lost his place due to injury and was ruled out of the rest of the tour.

Rahul replaced Dhawan and made his second Test century, 108 runs from 190 balls, which included 14 fours and 1 six. India went on to win the match to level the series and Rahul was named as the man of the match. His wicket-keeping skills came in handy, when Wriddhiman Saha got injured. Rahul took a catch to dismiss Angelo Mathews in the second innings.^[7]

He was named in the 15-man squad to tour Zimbabwe in 2016. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on 11 June 2016 and scored a century, becoming the first Indian cricketer to do so on debut.^[8][9] He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club on 18 June 2016.^[10] He was dismissed for a duck, the first time an India batsman has been out first ball in a T20I match.^[11]

He was picked in the Indian squad for the four-test tour against West Indies in 2016. Rahul played in the second Test at Jamaica and scored a strokeful 158, his highest Test score. In the process, he became the first Indian opener to score a century in his debut Test in the West Indies.^[12] In the first match of the T20I series in the United States, he scored a century off 46 balls in a losing cause, the second fastest ever and third by an Indian.^[13][14]

IPL career

Rahul was a part of the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013. In 2014, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 1 crore at the auction. In the 2016 season he returned to the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Personal life

Rahul was born on 18 April 1992 to Dr. K. N. Lokesh and Rajeshwari at Mangalore. He was raised in Mangalore and moved to Bangalore at the age of 18 to concentrate on his cricket career. Rahul's father Dr. K. N. Lokesh is a professor and Head of Department of Civil Engineering at the NITK, Surathkal, and mother Rajeshwari is a history professor at Mangalore University.^[15][16]

Rahul's father, who was a big fan of Sunil Gavaskar, wanted to name him after Gavaskar's son, but mistook the name of Gavaskar's son "Rohan" as "Rahul".^[17][16] Rahul's father said in an interview that Rahul started playing cricket at the age of 11.^[15]

International centuries

Test centuries

KL Rahul's Test centuries
S.No.	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	110	2	Australia	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	2015	Drawn
2	108	4	Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sri Lanka	Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium	2015	Won
3	158	6	West Indies	Kingston, Jamaica	Sabina Park	2016	Drawn

One Day International centuries

KL Rahul's One Day International centuries
S.no	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Results
1	100*	1	Zimbabwe	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2016	Won

Twenty20 International centuries

KL Rahul's Twenty20 International centuries
S.no	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Results
1	110*	4	West Indies	Lauderhill, America	Central Broward Regional Park	2016	Lost

International awards

Test cricket

Man of the Match awards

No.	Opponent	Series	Match Performance	Result
1	Sri Lanka	2nd Test – India in Sri Lanka in 2015	1st innings: 108 (190 balls, 13×4, 1x6); 1 ct. 2nd innings: 2 (3 balls) ; 1 ct.	India won by 278 runs.[18]

ODI cricket

Man of the Series awards

No.	Opponent	Series	Season	Match Performance	Result
1	Zimbabwe	Killer Cup - Indian cricket team in Zimbabwe ODI Series	2016	196 (3 Matches, 1×100, 1×50); 3 Ct.	India won the Series by 3-0.[19]

Man of the Match awards

No.	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club, Harare	11 June 2016	100* (115 balls: 7x4, 1x6); 1 ct.	India won by 9 wickets.[20]
2	Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club, Harare	15 June 2016	63* (70 balls: 4x4, 2x6); 2 ct.	India won by 10 wickets.[21]

References

External links

• Player profile: K. L. Rahul from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: K. L. Rahul from CricketArchive
• Lokesh Rahul's profile page on Wisden