Is AB de Villiers the man behind KL Rahul’s transformation?

KL Rahul, India’s new superman who can do any job at the moment seems to have taken inspiration from the superman of world cricket AB De villiers.

Rahul is going through a purple patch right now having tasted success at T20I level as an opener and in ODI’s as a finisher. Moreover he has grabbed the opportunity of keeping the wickets with both hands as India’s wicketkeeper batsman Rishab Pant got the axe.

Lowest point

But this was not the case with Rahul few months ago leading to the World cup. He was out of the Test squad after a string of bad performances in South Africa, England and Australia and even served suspension with Indian allrounder Hardik Pandya after making controversial statements on a chat show only for both to make a strong comeback to the national side. Even though he did have a decent World cup, his resurgence truly came when he was dropped from the Test set-up post the series in the West Indies. Rahul went back to domestic cricket and piled up a heap of runs for Karnataka in Vijay-Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and also kept wickets for them.

Rahul 2.0

Samuel Jayaj, Rahul’s childhood coach who started coaching the classy right-hander when he was 8, credited the success of his ressurgence to India’s captain Virat Kohli and Rahul’s former RCB teammate AB de Villiers.

Samuel revealed that Rahul had a chat with Virat and De Villiers and some other former cricketers. But he gave credit to ABD and Virat, saying that the latter always believed in his ability and showed confidence in him.

"Rahul spoke with ABD and Virat Kohli. Virat spoke with him and motivated him. I would like to give the credit to ABD and Virat for his transformation. Virat showed confidence in him"

– Samuel Jayaj
(KL Rahul's childhood coach)

My Idol♥️ pic.twitter.com/8kONH5bU4s

— Pranjal (@Pranjal_one8) February 12, 2020

“He (KL Rahul) spoke with a number of cricketers. He spoke with AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. Virat spoke with him and motivated him. Apart from AB de and Virat, some more former cricketers spoke with him. But I would give the credit to ABD and Virat. ABD understands him better because he is also a wicketkeeper-batsman. Virat showed confidence in him.”

“Virat knew how talented Rahul is. Watch KL’s stance closely, it is very very balanced. He looks calm before the ball reaches him. That’s one of the changes he has brought into his game,” Jayaraj said