'Virat Kohli invested a lot in him' - Shoaib Akhtar explains major cause behind in KL Rahul's rise

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar feels that Virat Kohli played a huge part in KL Rahul’s rise in IPL as well as international cricket. Rahul wasn’t at his best in the early years of IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad, but he was backed by Kohli as RCB picked him and played him in the middle-order until 2017. Rahul made his debut for India in Tests under Kohli’s captaincy, however, he was dropped from the side after some poor outings.

Despite all that, Kohli was always confident about Rahul’s potential and promoted him up the order in all the formats, which proved to be one of the best moves for Indian cricket. Since then, he has been in terrific form in IPL and the international circuit, and his leadership qualities seemed to be in right place now. The 30-year-old has scored 537 runs in IPL 2022 and taken Lucknow Super Giants into the playoffs.

I think KL Rahul is going to be a major factor in the match: Shoaib Akhtar

Akhtar hailed Kohli for backing Rahul right from the early stages of his career and noted about the Karnataka lad repaying the faith shown in him. He went on to pick Rahul as one of the key players ahead of the Eliminator against Royal Challengers Bangalore and wondered if the right-hander can come up with yet another match-winning innings.

“Virat Kohli invested a lot in KL Rahul (when he was the Indian captain). He pushed him up to open and made him a permanent member of the Indian team. Rahul is a nice and sensible guy. He has been able to prove himself and has successfully shown that he is a serious contender for India and in the IPL as well. I think KL Rahul is going to be a major factor in the match,” Akhtar said in a video on Sportskeeda.

“The two new teams, Lucknow and Gujarat, had to prove a point and they have been doing that very well. I would go with KL Rahul (for this game). Let’s see if Rahul is able to get the crowd support by controlling the game. He needs to focus hard on those two seconds every ball,” he added.