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India star Cheteshwar Pujara believes that KL Rahul would want to perform against his former team Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), as they are facing Delhi Capitals (DC) in their upcoming clash of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 which is scheduled to take place on April 22 at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. KL Rahul captained LSG for the previous three seasons of the tournament and led them to the playoffs twice before the franchise decided to release him ahead of the mega auction for the 18th edition of the tournament.
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He was picked by DC in the mega auction for a whopping Rs 14 Crore and has been having a prolific season for them. The wicketkeeper batter is currently going through a purple patch, he scored 266 runs in six innings at an average of 53.20 with two half-centuries to his name. Ahead of DC’s fixture against LSG, Pujara mentioned that Rahul would be keen to score against Lucknow.
“I think as a professional cricketer you try and move on from what has happened in the past, but at the same time there's a little bit that always plays in your mind. So this is the team he might be wanting to perform against, but not a lot. I would say that even if it is, it'll be just 10-20% which might play on his mind, but apart from that, I don't think he will be thinking too much about performing against LSG,” Pujara said on ESPNCricinfo.
Pujara, who was part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) mentioned how KL Rahul is a different player this season as he’s batting with a lot more freedom and is not carrying any extra baggage.
“With the way he's batting, it is definitely different. He has a bit more freedom, the kind of shots which he's playing, it looks like he has gained a lot of confidence from Champions trophy and the way he is performing across formats, so he is definitely a confident player now. There were times where he was carrying a lot of baggage, but now he has cleared all those things, and now he's in his zone. So in that way I would say emotionally he's a lot more balanced. There are times where he thought a lot about what was happening outside the bubble, which I'm sure he is not doing it now,” he added.
Rahul played an important role for Team India during their ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. He took the team over the finishing line with his handy contributions in the middle order. He accumulated 140 runs from four innings at an average of 140 and a strike rate of 97.90. The right-handed batter has carried his rich form in the IPL as well and will be eager to continue it against LSG.
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