IPL 2023: ‘Too Much Money a Distraction for Young Players,’ Says KL Rahul

Lucknow Super Giants regular captain KL Rahul has been ruled out of the IPL halfway through the tournament after he suffered a hip flexor injury against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 1. Following his injury, he went abroad and underwent his second surgery within a year and is on the road to recovery. However, Rahul recently appeared on the famous ‘The Ranveer Show’, where he opined on his cricketing journey and his IPL career in particular as well.

During his interview, KL Rahul spoke about the massive contracts in the IPL and made a stunning remark where he said that the lucrative contracts are a big distraction for young players as well. When he was asked about the biggest distraction for youngsters, Rahul blamed the high-paid contracts and no guidance as well. He added:

“Too much money at an early age and no guidance is the recipe for distraction for youngsters. In my case, I did not get a lot of money early on. I received my first big pay check when I was 25-26. Before that, I played on a basic contract. I received a big contract in 2018. By that time, I saw a few ups and downs in my life and became more balanced. I did go crazy after my first big check but calmed down really quickly.”

IPL 2023: KL Rahul opines on the various captains he had played under

KL Rahul also opened up about the various captains he had played under and also shared the difference in captaincy styles between MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Rahul started his international career under Dhoni but he played most of his games under Kohli. Kohli was his captain in the national side as well as in Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma is a more recent captain under whom Rahul served as the vice-captain of the side as well.

“I have been captained by such great leaders, starting with MS Dhoni, while he was playing, you know he was the captain, he was my captain, my first captain. I have seen how he handled the team and his calmness, the things that he does behind the scenes like building a relationship with each person are something that I have learned from him. You know, you need to build a relationship where these boys will fight for you and will be with you. That is something I learned from him,” KL Rahul added.

“Then Virat Kohli was our leader for six-seven years and the thing is that the Indian team did under him, the stats are there to be seen and it was phenomenal. the passion, the aggression brought in, he set the standard really high, and his way of leading and captaining was like leading from the front and showing the team how to achieve greatness. He did that and we all jumped on board, we got inspired by the things that he was doing and we tried to be a better version of ourselves and that is something that Virat created and gave each player the power or the realisation to do that you don’t have to settle for mediocre,” KL Rahul concluded.