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KL Rahul has joined Delhi Capitals for the next year’s IPL after the franchise bought him for Rs 14 crore at the mega auction.
Parth Jindal (left) and KL Rahul will team up at Delhi Capitals. (BCCI Photo)
Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal has lavished high praise on ‘exceptional cricketer’ KL Rahul after buying him at the IPL 2025 auction in Jeddah. Rahul entered the mega auction as one of the top stars after being released by his previous franchise Lucknow Super Giants.
LSG endured a poor IPL 2024 that saw them finish seventh in the 10-team points table. Post that, Rahul, who captained LSG for three seasons, wasn’t retained.
The visuals of LSG owner Sanji Goenka having a lively chat with Rahul after an IPL match sparked rumours of a fallout in their relationship.
Rahul was bought by DC for Rs 14 crore and Jindal says Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium will suit Rahul’s batting and also took a shot at the discussions over the wicketkeeper-batter’s strike rate.
“KL is an exceptional cricketer. His consistency in every IPL season has been phenomenal. Kotla is a ground which we thought will suit KL’s batting and if there are two grounds where probably KL wants to go as his home ground, they would be RCB or DC. Both Chinnaswamy or Kotla will suit his game in terms of them being small grounds. There has been a lot of chatter about KL on strike-rate and all those things. I believe a class player is always a class player,” Jindal told Revsportz.
Jindal revealed that the franchise wanted Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer but were fully aware that teams with bigger purse at the auction might outbid them for the star India cricketers.
“When we were discussing our auction strategy, the first lot was Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. Obviously, we thought that if we can get one of those players, one of them being the Indian marquee batter, then we will not have the budget for KL. But we lost both and went to the auction knowing that we might lose both because Punjab, LSG or RCB had more money than us. Then, who is the next-best batter? KL Rahul was right up there,” Jindal said.
Jindal then promised that he will provide the right atmosphere for Rahul to deliver his best and expressed hope his “good friend” can win DC a maiden IPL title.
“I believe that KL is a quality player and getting him at that price opened up the budget for us to strengthen other areas. I know KL personally for a long time and he is a good friend of mine. He thrives with love and respect and I am going to give him the love and respect he deserves. I hope he thrives in our atmosphere and does it for Delhi, wins an IPL,” he said.
