'World Cup is in my mind': KL Rahul targets T20I return, says 'If you've seen how my career...'

KL Rahul targets T20I return (BCCI Photo)

KL Rahul is scheduled to depart for England early next month to play in the five-match Test series after the IPL 2025. Rahul, however, has more ambitious goals for himself after scoring over 500 runs in his seventh IPL season. The Karnataka star stated that "the World Cup is in my mind" and he is eager to return to the ICC competition, which is set for February and March of next year in India and Sri Lanka, even if he hasn't played a single T20I since November 2022.

"Yes, I want to get back in the T20 team and the World Cup is in my mind, but for now it's just trying to enjoy how I'm playing right now," Rahul said in a Sky Sports interview with Nasser Hussain.

Rahul became the Delhi Capitals' top scorer with 539 runs in 13 innings, including a century and three fifties, despite the team's failure to qualify for the playoffs this season. Rahul acknowledged that, although being clear about his ambitions, he is hesitant to discuss his desires with the captain or the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee. Instead, he prefers to concentrate on simply being a member of the squad, regardless of the difficulties that may arise.

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"If you have seen how my career has gone, I don't think I really had a choice or I have never been a player to speak with the selectors and sit with the captain and tell the captain that this is what I want to do. I just want to be in the team and whatever challenge is thrown at me, I have found that's better for me to adapt to rather than me trying to sit and think about what I need to do. When the role is given to me and the coaches and the captain and the selectors tell me that look this is what we are expecting for you, may be No.5, maybe No. 6, open the batting. Yeah, that sort of gives me a clarity and then I work around my game," he said.

For Rahul, a season with 500 runs was never a problem. However, he was criticized for his strike rate in his T20 game. Up until 2025, when he concluded with 149.72, Rahul had not managed to get his strike rate above 140 since that incredible 2018 season, in which he had scored 158.41.

"I obviously had some time to think about my white-ball game and white-ball cricket; I was quite happy with my performances and where I was," Rahul said.

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“But [there] was a time probably 15 months ago or 12 months ago where I realised that the game is slightly getting ahead or it's changing and becoming much more faster, and I said this in an interview as well, that it's become more about the team that hits more boundaries is winning the games more often than the team that's, I can't say playing smarter, but the team that doesn't hit as many boundaries is always finding themselves on the losing side."

Rahul had not been selected for the 2024 T20 World Cup, which India won. The Indian star talked about how he improved his skills with the assistance of former India batting coach Abhishek Nayar after being excluded.

"So that's where white-ball cricket is getting and I haven't been part of the T20 team in the last couple of years. [That's] given me some time to think about my T20 game as well," Rahul said. "So, overall, just sitting and thinking about where I can get better, where the game's gone and what I need to do to catch up with the game and what can I do to perform and get back in the T20 team, what can I do to become an important player for my team in ODI and T20 overall in white-ball cricket...

"Just sitting and thinking about these things, I've come up with certain things obviously with the help of coaches that I've worked with, Abhishek Nayar is one of the guys I've worked with in the last 12 months quite a lot. He's come into the Indian team as a batting coach [but has been removed since] so I spent a lot of time with him and he really helped in helping me change my thinking and helping me work on my game."