What is KL Rahul's legacy at international and IPL level?

[Lord]

That too bowling AR for the most part

 

 

[Prabhdeep Singh]

KL does not have match winning ability, the recent 2 100’s he scored in England were both in losses.

 

Rohit for example scored 12 test 100’s all in wins.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2025 by Prabhdeep Singh

[kosingh]

I can't think of another Indian player who has the talent, who has been given a full career to prove himself, but has underachieved so much.

 

Among foreign players, maybe Carl Hooper? Graeme Hick? 

 

[spiritb2]

Don't know why KL Rahul is always breaks balance for whichever team he plays. Ties up one slot scores at slow strike rate bogs down team's momentum preaches about "strike rate is overrated"

[vvvslaxman]

I think among Manish Pandey, Mayank and KL from karnataka , mentally most fragile player is Kela. If onlY Mayank had that technique he would have served much better.  Manish Pandey if you have given him enough opportunities in Tests he would have matched what Kela achieved over his career.  Because he has a decent technique to survive on his day against very good bowling he managed to stay around.

[Prabhdeep Singh]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

I think among Manish Pandey, Mayank and KL from karnataka , mentally most fragile player is Kela. If onlY Mayank had that technique he would have served much better.  Manish Pandey if you have given him enough opportunities in Tests he would have matched what Kela achieved over his career.  Because he has a decent technique to survive on his day against very good bowling he managed to stay around.

Add Karun Nair to the list, also from Karnatatka.

 

Out of all of them Mayank should have given more chances.

 

They never tried Manish, 1st class cricket was his best format averaged well over 50.

 

Karun Nair also a bit unlucky, I am sure in Indian conditions he is way better than Sai.

Edited November 28, 2025 by Prabhdeep Singh

[vvvslaxman]

31 minutes ago, Prabhdeep Singh said:

Add Karun Nair to the list, also from Karnatatka.

 

Out of all of them Mayank should have given more chances.

 

They never tried Manish, 1st class cricket was his best format averaged well over 50.

 

Karun Nair also a bit unlucky, I am sure in Indian conditions he is way better than Sai.

 

Kela's majority of the dismissals were due to nerves ( either close to lunch, or right after a break or India had just lost a batsman, pressure of setting the tone as opener in T20.. you can keep adding )  He is like Thenali Kamalhasan. So many "fears" . 

[Nikola]

Hopefully, KL fans are not embarrassed like this in odi series (if there are any)

 

Edited November 28, 2025 by Nikola

[Lord]

5 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

Kela's majority of the dismissals were due to nerves ( either close to lunch, or right after a break or India had just lost a batsman, pressure of setting the tone as opener in T20.. you can keep adding )  He is like Thenali Kamalhasan. So many "fears" . 

 

yes biggest underachiever due to that. Even in WC final he was gently patting back deliveries by Head and Maxwell as if they are grenades.

[singhvivek141]

His "legacy" will be that he should be taught in the school of cricket books as why "mental strength" is more important than "stroke making ability".
Is a regular member of Test, yet has no confidence on his own abilities. 
Even DK in his last legs showed some amount of fearlessness.

[Tattieboy]

As we would say here in Scotland ,he is the perfect analogy of all frills and no knickers .

[AKane]

20 hours ago, Lord said:

 

yes biggest underachiever due to that. Even in WC final he was gently patting back deliveries by Head and Maxwell as if they are grenades.

Yes but he is there - always there. You have to be present to underachieve or overachieve or just achieve.

 

The peerless KL is always present - unlike say a Sarfraz or many others in the past like Kale, Bhave, Sugwekar.... or even before like Surinder Amarnath who played only 10 tests etc.

 

The peerless KL takes care of the basics - like being present in the team.

 

Then there is something else - whatever it is ... he does it well. Kudos to him.

 

For example one reckless inning and it ended Sandeep Patil's career at 29 test matches. On the other hand after the WC final.... the peerless KL is now the ODI captain!

 

[putrevus]

31 minutes ago, AKane said:

Yes but he is there - always there. You have to be present to underachieve or overachieve or just achieve.

 

The peerless KL is always present - unlike say a Sarfraz or many others in the past like Kale, Bhave, Sugwekar.... or even before like Surinder Amarnath who played only 10 tests etc.

 

The peerless KL takes care of the basics - like being present in the team.

 

Then there is something else - whatever it is ... he does it well. Kudos to him.

 

For example one reckless inning and it ended Sandeep Patil's career at 29 test matches. On the other hand after the WC final.... the peerless KL is now the ODI captain!

 

Spot on he is always there but never gets any blame for losses.He was there in 2019 semis, 2021 world t20, 2022 world t20  plus like you mentioned  2023 finals and countless test matches.

 

 

[Lord]

8 hours ago, AKane said:

Yes but he is there - always there. You have to be present to underachieve or overachieve or just achieve.

 

The peerless KL is always present - unlike say a Sarfraz or many others in the past like Kale, Bhave, Sugwekar.... or even before like Surinder Amarnath who played only 10 tests etc.

 

The peerless KL takes care of the basics - like being present in the team.

 

Then there is something else - whatever it is ... he does it well. Kudos to him.

 

For example one reckless inning and it ended Sandeep Patil's career at 29 test matches. On the other hand after the WC final.... the peerless KL is now the ODI captain!

 

 

He has the knack of performing just as he's about to get dropped

[daryl1985]

Always wanted him to do well but wasted potential.  

Had the ability to be a mainstay and one of India's best batters for years in tests but just lacked something at the top level (mental rather than technical or ability wise).  

In ODI's think he was quite solid but unfortunately that one knock will haunt him forever. 

T20's - never been an essential part of the T20 XI/squad for me - replaceable.  

IPL - Don't care.  

 

That Pant runout really put me off KL, him getting worried about a personal milestone upset the innings and India surrendered a position of strength.

[Suhaan]

यॉर्कर गेंद पर केएल राहुल ने खोद दी जमीन, लगाया गजब का सिक्स, बिलबिला उठा गेंदबाज

https://hindi.news18.com/cricket/ind-vs-sa-kl-rahul-hits-brilliant-six-off-marco-jansen-yorker-video-goes-viral-9914369.html

 

[Vk1]

Not only mental midget in batting but worse in captaincy. Can't remember when we did so badly in an odi game after getting such a good start. 

[Tillu]

He is so predictable. Was playing for his 50 in the slog overs yesterday. All the SA batsmen low down the order played at 130-140 strikerate and Kela was so elated playing at a 100 strike rate.

[Lord]

12 hours ago, Tillu said:

He is so predictable. Was playing for his 50 in the slog overs yesterday. All the SA batsmen low down the order played at 130-140 strikerate and Kela was so elated playing at a 100 strike rate.

 

yep poor innings yesterday despite the 50

[tapandrun]

KL should have been at-least an Ind great with his ability and chances given to him.

 

An Ind top-order batter coming from 5/6 top domestic side given full support by bcci and every captain and TM, he had it all why he didnt succeed can not answer that.

 

From the intnl debut there was no obvious issue with his technique, had game fr both test and whit-ball, can play both spin and pace, can play both off and leg-side, no apparent issues with Short pitched ball , what else do you look for in a better??

 

Ind player with lesser ability and game have proved to be n times better than KL.

 

Think after Rohit he was only batter who had every-thing sorted from the beginning.

 

take a look a some of Ind batters not trying to compare but giving an overlook of what they had from the beginnig and what they lacked :

 

Sachin- complete game but was not that tall

Dravid - Good defensive technique but little to no game for Odis 

Gangully -- Not that strong leg-side game and  weak vs high pace

Laxman -- Not many shots and v.limited foot work

Sehwag-- Short-ball and leg-side was always an Issue

Kolhi-- Started with v.few shots on off-side 

 

 

Do not think IPL is that big where any1 has legacy.

 

In terms of Intnl. cricket, ppl will always ask how and why he was able to play so many games , even after losing imp. wc matches??

How some 1 played ~70 test for Ind with less than 35 avg.