IPL 2022: KL Rahul has a great future ahead as captain, says Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir

Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir reckons KL Rahul has a great future ahead as a captain. Rahul has been given the captaincy bridle for Lucknow Super Giants and he will look to get the best out of the team as a leader. The flamboyant batter has been a consistent performer in the last couple of seasons in the IPL and he will look to bring his best.

Meanwhile, Rahul had led in Kohli’s absence in the second Test match against South Africa but the team lost by seven wickets. Furthermore, India was whitewashed in the three-match ODI series by the Proteas under the leadership of KL Rahul.

Thus, Rahul’s captaincy has been questioned by a lot of cricket experts but Gambhir reckons it is not fair to judge Rahul’s leadership on the basis of only four matches.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul led Punjab Kings in the last two seasons of the IPL but the Mohali-based franchise failed to make it to the playoff stages. However, Rahul has delivered as a batter in the IPL as he has scored 3273 runs in 94 matches at an impressive average of 47.43 and a blistering strike rate of 136.38.

“Sometimes we start relating someone just with performances and the results. It’s too early to judge someone by just captaining 4 games,” Gambhir said while talking to Sports Today.

Gambhir added that Rahul maintains the right balance as a leader and he is going to learn a lot with more experience.

“But the most important attribute a leader should have is he doesn’t fly too high that he doesn’t go down too deep either. That is probably the best quality KL Rahul has. Always captaincy is a work in progress. You can never say, as a player or as a leader, that you have achieved everything. You want to keep improving every day. You got to be the best of yourself till the last day of your career.

“Whatever I have seen of KL, he has a great, great future ahead not only as a batter but as a leader as well. Because that is a quality that very few people have – being calm and composed. When you start doing that, that reflects on the entire team as well. “When you have that kind of leader, the entire squad will benefit a lot. And I am sure he is going to do that, knowing the kind of person that he is,” Gambhir added.

Rahul has been roped in for a whopping amount of INR 17 crore by Lucknow Supergiants. Meanwhile, Rahul can also learn a lot while working with Gautam Gambhir, as the former Indian opener had led KKR to two IPL titles.

IPL 2022 is expected to begin on March 27.