New Delhi. While all the big names are in the headlines just before IPL 2026, KL Rahul has been seen away from the limelight for some time. Due to not being a part of India's T20 team, he was not in the news even during the T20 World Cup, but now as the Indian Premier League 2026 is coming closer, Rahul is ready to return to the headlines once again, and this time his role is going to be more important than ever.
According to sources, Delhi Capitals has decided to field KL Rahul as an opener for IPL 2026. Not only this, he will also handle the responsibility of wicketkeeping for the team. This decision is interesting because in the last season, Rahul did not get a chance to open in the beginning and the team had experimented with its combination. At that time Fau du Plessis, Abhishek Porel and Jack Fraser were played up, while Rahul was later sent to his favorite position.
Who will open with Rahul in IPL 2026?
What makes this decision even more interesting is the strong top order bench strength of Delhi Capitals. This time the team has many options as compared to last season. The inclusion of Ben Duckett and Pathum Nishanka in the auction is being considered a great step for the team. While Duckett bats aggressively with his left hand, Nissanka is known for his consistency, however, the batting styles of Rahul and Nissanka are very similar, which can spoil the balance for the team. Apart from this, Prithvi Shaw is also a big option, who always seems close to making a comeback. Whereas Abishek Porel can fit in any position due to his versatile role. In such a situation, Delhi has four strong options to open with Rahul, which is both a big strength for the team and a headache for the selectors.
Why is it important to return to your favorite position?
If one thing is clear from Rahul's IPL career, it is that he is most effective while opening. The statistics also show the same and so does his batting on the field. In IPL 2025, Delhi played him mostly in the middle order, where he scored runs, but that edge was not visible in his batting. The ability to control the innings, taking control of the match from the beginning and deciding the strategy against the bowlers, all these things Rahul is able to do better while opening. When he got a chance to open again at the end of the season, he proved the importance of his role by scoring a brilliant century against Gujarat Titans. Rahul's record as an opener is very excellent, more than 4400 runs, average around 50 and strike rate above 135. Not only this, he also knows the art of handling the innings in T20 cricket and accelerating at the right time, the lack of which Delhi missed on many important occasions in the last season. He scored 539 runs in IPL 2025 and was also the team's highest run-scorer with a strike rate of almost 150, which was his best performance since 2018.
Delhi Capitals IPL 2026 squad
Batsmen: KL Rahul (wk), Karun Nair, David Miller, Ben Duckett, Pathum Nissanka, Sahil Parakh, Prithvi Shaw, Abhishek Porel (wk), Tristan Stubbs
All-rounders: Axar Patel (captain), Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Auqib Dar, Nitish Rana.
Bowlers: Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Lungi Ngidi, Kyle Jamieson, Kuldeep Yadav.
KL Rahul's return to the opening in IPL 2026 is not only important for his individual form, but can also strengthen the entire batting balance of Delhi Capitals. Now it will be interesting to see which player gets the responsibility of opening with him and how much success this pair can bring to the team.
