Cricket
Cricket
Read KL Rahul’s favourite memories from playing Red Bull Campus Cricket
The Indian opening batsman reminisces about when he played in the college cricket tournament that helped start his professional cricketing journey.
Read this article in Hindi.
KL Rahul is hailed as one of the best cricketers of his generation.
He holds the record for fastest to score centuries in all three formats of the game, having done so in 20 innings. He is also the first Indian to score a century on ODI debut and the first player in T20I history to score a century batting at number 4.
Over the years he has become one of the mainstays of the Indian national cricket team as an opening batsman.
But he did have a tough time establishing himself at the start of his professional career.
KL Rahul had an injury that kept him off the field early in his career. As part of his return to action, he participated in Red Bull Campus Cricket 2013, representing Jain University of Bengaluru.
He ended as top scorer of the tournament, got selected in the auction of India’s biggest T20 franchise league for the Bengaluru team, and also scored 1033 runs to help Karnataka win the 2013 Ranji Trophy. It was a fantastic year for him which led to his national team selection in 2014, all beginning with his exploits at Red Bull Campus Cricket.
As the tournament completes 10 years in India, we speak with KL Rahul about his experience playing in Red Bull Campus Cricket and representing his college team.
How did your journey as a cricketer begin with Red Bull Campus Cricket?
During the very first year of Red Bull Campus Cricket, I represented my college – Jain University. I remember everybody being very excited because at a college level, we had never played in a tournament which was very formally organized. At Red Bull Campus Cricket, the players wore coloured clothing and played with a white ball, there was music and a lot of glitz and glamour. We had seen all these things only during matches such as IPL and that too, only on TV. And we were thrilled that Red Bull Campus Cricket was similar and we were getting a chance to play in such a tournament. We really enjoyed playing in the tournament and it's great to see how far it has come from the time we started.
KL Rahul
© Ali Bharmal
How was Red Bull Cricket Campus a platform that led to your growth?
I’ve said this many times: the tournament happened at a time when I was 18 or 19 years old and I was injured. I was out of my state team and there weren’t many opportunities for me to play and show my skill; to show that I was fit enough. I performed well in Red Bull Campus Cricket and got back to the Karnataka team. From there, I got the chance to play with Royal Challengers Bangalore and I started scaling heights! So I would say that Red Bull Campus Cricket is where my journey of making it big started.
Are there any key achievements that you think pushed you forward from that particular tournament?
I wasn’t considered to be a T20 player as such but with this tournament, I got the chance to prove otherwise. Before Red Bull Campus Cricket, everyone had tagged me as a Test match player. In Red Bull Campus Cricket, there were three-four matches that I won for my college team and I even scored a century. This gave me the confidence that I am a good enough player; I knew that I can play all formats. The match also had state selectors around who heard the news about me and my performance, and this helped me a great deal in making a statement and getting noticed. I even won the ‘Man of the Match’ award and celebrated with my team. Red Bull had organized the tournament wonderfully and made it a unique experience for all of us at the college level. They had great hotel rooms and after parties for us. It was a fun experience both on and off the field.
Any personal anecdotes or stories of playing the tournament which you cherish?
It’s hard to pick, but I do remember one or two incidents I remember scoring a century against the Chandigarh University in Mysore. I think it was a semifinal match which we won and we had a big celebration after the game. Red Bull encouraged every player to have fun and enjoy the game – the mentality was to play hard on the field and enjoy off the field. I made a lot of friends during the tournament who are my friends till today, after 10 years. And I have been associated with Red Bull after that tournament in a bigger way, and the partnership has been wonderful.
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KL Rahul - Shut Out The Noise
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