'A different KL this season' - Pujara gives Rahul credit for smooth LSG-DC transition

KL Rahul scored his third half-century in IPL 2025 on Tuesday night in Delhi Capitals' (DC) win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), taking his tally to 323 runs in seven innings after missing the start of the season for the birth of his child. He is DC's highest run-getter this season and the latest innings - a match-winning 42-ball 57 - was yet another performance where his skills as one of the most dangerous Indian T20 batters was on display.

He is now averaging nearly 65 in his first season with his new franchise, and Cheteshwar Pujara has credited Rahul for leaving last season's "baggage" - the fallout with LSG - at the door and moving on.

"Just move on, don't carry any baggage from the past," Pujara said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut, reflecting on Rahul's IPL 2025 form. "And that's a good thing. Look, KL is a mature player. Last couple of years, he's been batting well across formats. He doesn't want to think about the past and wants to enjoy his batting and be in his zone, rather than think about what went wrong when he was playing for the LSG team.

"It's good to move on, which will also help him play well for DC and even for the Indian team. Because, lately, he is someone the India team also relies on, the way he's batting. Even as a person, he looks a lot more mature now, he understands his game very well. We have seen a different KL Rahul this season. When he started [against LSG], he didn't look that [fluid], but still he picked it up."

On Tuesday, after LSG had put up 159 for 6, Rahul walked out with DC at 36 for 1 in the fourth over. He took his time to get going, only getting to 19 off 20 balls by the end of the tenth over, but with Abishek Porel scoring quickly at the other end, DC were still placed quite well at 80 for 1. Rahul got going after that with sixes in back-to-back overs, off Ravi Bishnoi and Aiden Markram, the spinners, and, while never frenetic, got to his fifty off 40 balls before finishing the game with his third six.

Nick Knight, the former England opener, said Rahul might be thriving because he doesn't have to shoulder the responsibility of captaincy, like he had to at LSG.

"Captaincy can do funny things to you - sometimes you thrive on it, sometimes it's a burden," Knight said. "Whether that's had any impact, of not being captain now, just being free and being able to play the match situation.

"We've got this obsession in cricket that the best player has to be captain. That's not always the case, is it? I'm not saying that's the case with KL Rahul, or even Rishabh Pant, but he's batting with so much freedom and looks relaxed in the crease."

Pujara liked what he saw of Mukesh Kumar on the night, especially at the back-end of the LSG innings. His 4 for 33 ensured LSG finished with a below-par 159 that DC chased down with 13 balls to spare.

"He is more than capable, even within the powerplay. He is someone who can take a couple of wickets in the powerplay, which he hasn't done, but credit to him on how he came back after being hit in the powerplay," Pujara said. "That yorker against Mitchell Marsh was probably one of the best [deliveries] in the IPL. He got the ball to reverse swing a bit, he executed his yorkers really well. Look, he is a confidence bowler, and he's always looking for a wicket."

Knight also gave credit to DC captain Axar Patel for his bowling changes and making the best use of his resources. Axar had taken the new ball himself against the two overseas LSG batters - Marsh and Markram - and bowled four economical overs on the trot.

"Axar, actually, had a good game," Knight said. "I thought it was innovative to open the bowling with him [Axar]. I thought he used Mitchell Starc really well. It wasn't swinging much up front so he took Starc out. Brought him back in the eighth over [ninth over] to make an impact and he did that with the Nicholas Pooran dismissal [later in the same spell].

"Then he had Kuldeep [Yadav], himself and Mitchell Starc bowling in key moments in the middle to block LSG out. I thought it was an impressive performance from the skipper."