For someone still growing up in his captaincy shoes, KL Rahul Impressively clear about his leadership philosophy. As the captain of the newly-named Lucknow Super Giants franchise, Rahul knows that his responsibilities as captain will only increase and as they say, there is a learning curve ahead.
TOI spoke to Rahul about the beginning of his journey with Lucknow and his approach towards captaincy.
Excerpts from the exclusive conversation…
You have repeatedly talked about growing up as a captain, being in a learning curve with the Indian team. In this context, what kind of opportunity does a stint with Lucknow Supergiants offer you?
What I have realized in the last two-three years, ever since I started captaining, is that captaincy is something that you can only get better at. You can learn only when you actually captain a team. You can be a player, you can be part of a leadership group, and you can be a senior player, and you (may) feel like, yes, if given the chance, I really want to play that role. I can do well But it’s very different when you’re actually given that role and that opportunity and when you have to interrupt those calls. Every sport has a learning curve, and I don’t think it will stop (to happen) until I finish my career as a player or captain. I am very excited to join Lucknow and the RPSG group. We had a few chats and I was very happy. I didn’t have any other thoughts. Sir (franchisee owner) Sanjeev Goenka) and I really hit it.
Do you see any kind of captaincy blueprint?
This is how you take each game. With victory, defeat, there is always learning, (about) how you can stay balanced, how you can be better as an individual and as a team. This is the only blueprint I have as a captain to learn from every game. Mistakes will happen, but if we can delay mistakes by 10 games or 20 games, we will be a better team. That’s what I learned in the first two years of my captaincy. The thing I am learning on the go is how do I bring out the best out of the players. This is the most important thing to make sure the players are in the right mindset and enjoying their cricket. Yes, there is a lot of pressure but it is about how players can still find joy in going out. Only then can you give your best performance. This is important to me as a leader and to us as a franchisee. That is chat, about creating an environment where everyone feels part of a family, where everyone wants to come back to do something special for these two months.
KL Rahul. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
How excited are you to start the team anew?
it’s very exciting. I think very few people from my time will get this opportunity. The team is from scratch but the RPSG group has been in the IPL for a few years (previously with the Pune franchise) and have experienced little success. Hopefully we can all move on from there and build a franchise that will compete well and contribute some good cricketers to our country.
Two players retained by Lucknow are leg-spinners. Ravi Bishnoi, who played with you in Punjab. Is he the one for the future?
There is a lot of fighting inside him. This is something that was different from the first game of the IPL played out of the Under-19 World Cup. The IPL is a big platform and it didn’t seem like the opportunity made them any better. He wanted to be in the fight. he was bowling against Rishabh Pant And Shreyas Iyer And he’s a really good player of spin, so I threw him the ball and said, “It’s going to be tough.” He said, “No, it doesn’t matter, I’ll kick them out.” He has such an attitude. He has a big heart for a little boy. He could be the next big thing in Indian cricket. The onus is on us to help him realize his potential so that he can get into that national team and become one of the leading spinners. team india,
Are you an intuitive leader or someone who goes over data?
It should be a good balance. I always rely more on my instinct and gut feeling and my understanding of a situation. I spend time with the analyst before the game and understand if there are great matchups that we can use against the batsman. Understand the land and the situation. There are always statistics, patterns that we can use to our advantage. But mostly it’s instinct and my understanding of what might be the right call. I also want to say that a captain is only as good as his team. A team of XI members wins a championship. It cannot be done by one person or even three or four people. So we are trying to build a team with players who have more than one skill to offer. This is where T20 cricket or white-ball cricket is progressing.
Towards multi-skilled players?
If you look at all the successful teams, Mumbai, CSK, they have always filled their team with all-rounders. That is why they have been successful for a long time. We would like to have a team like this.
any discussion with gautam gambhir (guardian) and andy flower (head coach) yet?
Yes, we have had a lot of discussions. Every third day we are talking about different strategies. There is so much cricket going on that there is always something new, always something exciting!
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