KL Rahul

The arrival

KL Rahul's first IPL season was 2013, with Royal Challengers Bangalore, a signing made outside the auction.

That first season brought 5 matches and 20 runs. The best was still to come.

The peak

The high point with the bat was 2020, for Kings XI Punjab: 676 runs at an average of 48.3, striking at 129.0 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 131.8, with 1 hundred and 5 fifties, and a highest score of 132 not out. It came in a season as captain. There were eight seasons of 400 runs or more in all (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026).

Measured against the league around it, though, the most destructive season was 2018: 659 runs at a strike rate of 158.4, 20 runs per hundred balls quicker than the IPL as a whole that year.

Franchise by franchise

2013, Royal Challengers Bangalore. 5 matches and 20 runs.

2014 to 2015, Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bought at the 2014 auction for ₹1 cr. 20 matches and 308 runs.

2016, Royal Challengers Bangalore, second time round. Back outside the auction. 14 matches and 397 runs.

2018 to 2021, Kings XI Punjab. Bought at the 2018 auction for ₹11 cr. 55 matches and 2,554 runs; captain in 2020 and 2021.

2022 to 2024, Lucknow Super Giants. Arrived outside the auction. 38 matches and 1,410 runs; captain in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

2025 to 2026, Delhi Capitals. Bought at the 2025 auction for ₹14 cr. 28 matches and 1,139 runs.

6 spells with five franchises in all. The longest was with Kings XI Punjab, 2018 to 2021. 2017 is missing from the record: a season without an IPL appearance.

How the runs came

Across the career, KL Rahul has struck at 139.2. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 138.4, so the scoring rate has tracked the league's almost exactly. 60% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 509 fours and 239 sixes, the 7th-most sixes in IPL history.

The ball-by-ball record adds the detail. 32.8% of the balls KL Rahul faced were dot balls, a lower share than 82% of the 140 batters who have faced 500 balls or more in the IPL. A six came every 17.5 balls, and a four every 8.2.

The fielding record: 83 catches, 11 run-outs and 8 stumpings, the stumpings a reminder of the gloves.

At the auction

KL Rahul has gone under the hammer three times. The highest price was ₹14 cr, paid by Delhi Capitals in 2025, more than 7 times the base price. The price climbed with the reputation: ₹1 cr in 2014, ₹14 cr by 2025.

Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.

Where it stands

On the all-time IPL lists, among 810 players, KL Rahul stands 5th for runs, 7th for sixes and 8th for player-of-the-match awards. The story is still being written: 2026 was another season with Delhi Capitals.