By Admin 
IPL 2026: Indian cricket team’s star batsman KL Rahul has openly told for the first time how difficult it is to captain in IPL. Rahul was the captain of Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants for many seasons and during this time many such things related to him came to light, about which the fans were not aware till date. Now in an interview, Rahul has made it clear that captaining in IPL is more challenging than becoming captain in international cricket.
What is the real responsibility of the captain in IPL?
While talking to Humans of Bombay, Rahul said that IPL captaincy is not limited to just taking decisions on the field. Along with this, the captain also has to deal with team management, data analytics, net sessions, countless pre-match and post-match meetings, planning and then reporting all this to the team owners. According to Rahul, many times he felt that amidst all the responsibilities, his own game was being left behind.
“By the end of IPL, more tired than playing international cricket for 10 months”
Rahul admitted that during captaincy in IPL, the mental pressure increases so much that by the end of IPL, he used to be more tired than the entire season of international cricket. He said that constant meetings, balancing the team and understanding the form of the players are very difficult.
‘Unknown questions’ of team owners become a big challenge
Rahul revealed that some questions from IPL team owners put more pressure on the captain and coach. He said that many times team owners who do not have deep understanding of cricket ask such questions which have no meaning. As,
“Why is that player in the playing eleven?”
“How did the opposing team score 200 and why could we not score 120?”
“Why were their bowlers able to spin better than us?”
According to Rahul, such questions are one of the biggest challenges during captaincy. It becomes even more difficult to deal with them.
Rahul is now feeling relieved after leaving the captaincy
KL Rahul captained Lucknow Super Giants for three consecutive seasons from 2022 to 2024. However, he left this responsibility from 2025 and is now playing as a regular player for Delhi Capitals. He says that after being away from captaincy, he is now able to focus more on his game and he is also feeling mentally lighter.