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Delhi Capitals star KL Rahul recently came out to say that playing the Indian Premier League is more mentally draining than playing the internationals. Rahul highlighted that the captains are often questioned a lot and face an incredible amount of pressure from the fans and the management.

While talking about the difficulties he faced in an interview with Humans of Bombay, KL Rahul opened up, "What I found hard as a captain in the IPL was the number of meetings that you needed to do, the number of reviews that you needed to do, and explain at the ownership level. I realised that at the end of IPL, I am more mentally and physically drained than playing 10 months of international cricket."

Notably, the former Lucknow Super Giants player faced severe criticism in 2024 after LSG finished 7th in the IPL table.

RL Rahul On What Makes IPL Harder Than Playing The Internationals

The batter shared that there are more expectations in the IPL. He shared that, as new players are always being included in the team, interacting with them and bringing them all on the same frequency within two months while also playing matches simultaneously, gets stressful at times.

He explained, "What makes IPL hard is the number of games we play in a two-month period. There's always a new team member coming in. There are three-four new members who are coming in after a mini auction. Having to interact with players from different cultures, different parts of the world."

Rahul continued, "To do all that within the two-month period. Sometimes, those two months fly away before we even get to know our teammates fully... While all this is happening, there is an expectation to perform and win the game, which every player wants to do. I don't think any player in the league, whether it's a local player or an overseas player, goes out thinking, 'Oh, it's okay if we don't win this game, or it's okay if I give only 50 percent of my ability. ' I bet you and guarantee you that nobody thinks like this."

Delhi Capitals Retains KL Rahul

Ahead of the 2026 IPL auctions, the Delhi Capitals announced the retention of KL Rahul along with other players, including Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, and Vipraj Nigam.