IPL 2019: KL Rahul reveals nicknames of his KXIP teammates

The Kings XI Punjab has been one of the entertaining franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They made it to the final of the tournament once in 2014 and were in the knockouts in the inaugural 2008 season. The current lineup of the team features some of the best characters in the game. The team is not shy of giving their opinions led by Ravichandran Ashwin, who controversially dismissed Jos Buttler of Rajasthan Royals to win a match.

With match winners like Chris Gayle, KL Rahul. Mayank Agarwal and Mohammed Shami, the team not making into the knockouts would be a crime. Talking about the team, Rahul in an interview reveals some inside secrets of the dressing room, as to which players like what things and which are the pet peeves of various of his teammates which includes some very interesting information that meant for some very good reading.

KL Rahul reveals the nicknames of his Kings XI Punjab teammates

The opener explained what names have been given to his KXIP teammates in the dressing room and he started with Chris Gayle. The West Indian batsman is a legend of T20 cricket and joined KXIP in 2018 and made an immediate impact with a century and Rahul revealed that he is called “the Universe Boss”, a nickname he has given to himself.

Next came in Mayank Agarwal, KL’s Karnataka and India teammate as well and Mayank is known as Monk. Rahul said the nickname suits Mayank and he goes with it. Skipper Ravichandran Ashwin goes by the moniker of Ash and Andre Tye, the Australian fast bowler is simply called AJ. New KXIP team member Mandeep Singh is called Mandy.

Lokesh Rahul also said that Karun Nair, the only second Indian to score a Test triple hundred, is called ‘Kulla’, which means shorty in Kannada. He revealed that Karun, who also plays for Karnataka like Rahul and Mayank, started their journey in cricket together and the nickname just stuck with him since then and now has become popular with the Punjab teammates as well.

Sarfaraz Khan has two nicknames according to Rahul. He said that when he and Sarfaraz played for RCB together, the young batsman was called Panda thanks to his chubby looks. In KXIP, apart from Panda, he is also called Sarfu, a shortening of his name.

Finally, KL Rahul revealed that he has a very boring nickname, as he is simply called KL.

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