“Would be nice to be back at RCB." KL Rahul might return to RCB for IPL 2025

Summary: KL Rahul expressed his excitement about playing for a team that loves and cares for him in an interview before the mega auction.

KL Rahul, the Indian cricketer, said he is excited for the upcoming mega auction this November 24-25. He also said he would be delighted to play for Royal Challengers Bengaluru again in front of his home crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. 

Rahul stated that he is excited to play for a squad that is "loved and respected" following his departure from the Lucknow Super Giants. He was earlier released by the Lucknow Super Giants. 

After a three-year association with the previous captain, LSG startled many by deciding not to keep KL Rahul for the 2025 tournament. Rahul is back in the race for the mega auction, which is set for November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

In the huge auction, Rahul will likely start bidding wars and become one of the most costly purchases. The wicketkeeper-batter, who also adds the quality of captaincy, is being pursued by RCB, who have one of the largest salaries after retaining only three players (Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, and Yash Dayal).

Rahul began his IPL career with RCB in 2013, where he played with Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle. He subsequently completed two years with SunRisers Hyderabad before rejoining Virat Kohli in 2016. Rahul scored 397 runs in 14 games, contributing significantly to RCB's title run.

After that, Rahul played with the Punjab Kings, rising to the position of captain in 2020. After leading the Lucknow Super Giants for two more seasons before going back to the auction market, the Karnataka batsman-wicketkeeper was named captain in their first season.

In an interview with Star Sports, he said, "I most enjoyed playing at RCB. It's also home. You get to spend a lot of time at home, and I know the Chinnaswamy [Stadium] really well. I've grown up playing on that ground. So yeah, I enjoyed my time in RCB."

He continued, "It's kind of home and the people there know me as a local Kannada boy, and it would be nice to go back there and get an opportunity again. But yeah, it's an auction year, so you can go anywhere."

After playing three seasons as captain for LSG, Rahul said, "I just felt like I wanted to start fresh; I wanted to explore my options and I wanted to go and play where I could find some freedom and the team atmosphere would be something much more balanced."